Columbia

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Early on, potential problems with Columbia were noted. It was the heaviest of the shuttles. It was carrying a major payload back to earth - something that most every other shuttle flight never does. Two investigations were ongoing. The first was by NASA itself. For some reason they quickly discounted a slash on left wing heat tiles and moved on to other ideas. But the second investigation team is independent of NASA. The second team went after those heat tiles with vengence.

A computer program was run to simulate how much heat tile damage would have occurred from that insulating foam. Simulations said anywhere from 24 to 36 inches of tiles would have been damaged. But this simulation was discounted, in part, for reasons that were not true. Engineers repeatedly requested that NRO spy satellites or secret defense ground based telescopes be used to examine the shuttles left wing. Managers repeatedly quashed those requests. In one case, the manager is rumored to not have sufficient knowledge to even know if those picutres were or were not necessary when he refused to pass on the request.

Evidence as to when the breakup started puts the shuttle into manuevers designed to slow it down. Shuttle does many left and rignt sweeps to dissipate the energy of Mach 24. It is believed the left wing began its disintegration during the left bank turn probably over the Pacific about 400 miles out from CA. For some reason, hot plasma began cutting into the left wing much like a welder's torch in the same spot where those tiles were suspected damaged. Cutting so that extreme heat was melting or burning metal while other parts of the wing were not affected. However investigators are not convinced that heat tile damage was the only reason for failure. They have good reason to suspect the left wing was breaking up under during the left banking.

Remember, this 20+ year old shuttle was to be retired and yet was carrying one of the heaviest loads ever back to earth. Furthermore, of the 500 people once responsible for tile maintenance, only 100 made the transfer from CA to FL. Most who worked on those wings had little experience.

Much inside wing is aluminum. Anyone familiar with ship fires about the USS Stark and British warships (2 firigates and 1 destroyer) during the Falklans War understands how aluminum creates an explosive fire. One possibility is that the aluminum boxed area inside the wing burned so hot as to actually create an aluminum explosion on the left wing adjacent Columbia's fuselage. This would be the explosion photographed by west coast amateur photographers.

It is not clear from where all these reports come. Reporters do not differentiate between the independent commission and NASA's group. However technical stories took on a different attitude as soon as the independent commission began its study. They immediately discounted what NASA's people had already ignored. One point is certain and yet still not being mentioned. This was one of the heaviest Shuttles to return to earth. Its left wing failed maybe when most strain of deceleration was being applied to that wing. Why?

In the meantime, the space station may have to be mothballed or staffed without enough people to perform daily maintenance. The ISS already is not doing scientific study. Now it might not have enough people on board to even properly maintain it.