NASA E-mail Discussed Shuttle Disaster

FEBRUARY 26--Four days before the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated in the sky, a senior research engineer sent a NASA colleague an e-mail asking, "Any more activity today on the tile damage or are people just relegated to crossing their fingers and hoping for the best?" The January 28 correspondence sent by Robert Daugherty, the engineer, to veteran NASA controller Carlisle Campbell was one of two dozen e-mails released today reflecting detailed discussions space officials had regarding possible tile damage incurred during the shuttle's January 16 liftoff. Another memo, sent the day before the Columbia disaster by a NASA flight controller, raised the possibility that the shuttle's wing could burn off and the crew could perish in the case of a "main gear breach." That January 31 e-mail, sent by controller Jeffrey Kling, was responded to later that day by William Anderson, a NASA contractor, who, while downplaying the possibility of landing problems, asked in an e-mail, "why are we talking about this on the day before landing, and not the day after launch." A fourth e-mail, also addressing landing gear concerns, outlined four possible landing scenarios, one of which--a "gear-up landing"--would almost certainly result in an "LOCV case," NASA shorthand for loss of crew and vehicle. That January 28 e-mail was sent by NASA mechanical engineer Kevin McCluney to various Johnson Space Center colleagues. (4 pages)