Crew saw problems coming
2003-02-02 21:10
Cape Canaveral - The crew of Columbia pointed out technical difficulties in the
seconds before the space shuttle disintegrated over Texas on
Saturday as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, Nasa said.
Nasa chief flight director Milt Heflin said rising temperatures
were noted in the left main gear tyre wheel well brake line and
tyres.
Also, several of
the shuttle's temperature sensors quit working - a minor
malfunction that normally would not prevent a shuttle from landing
safely, he said.
The loss of one of the sensors triggered a computer alert to the
crew, and the final transmission ground control received from the
Columbia was a routine acknowledgement of that alert.
"Again, the vehicle was flying was no problems at that time,"
Heflin said.
"And when things like this happen, when a crew gets an alert,
you acknowledge it, they recognise they've seen it.
"As far as I know, that was the last transmission from the crew
... they were acknowledging, we believe, that indication that
they'd seen.
"Then we lost all vehicle data," he said.
All seven crew died when the shuttle broke up over Texas 16
minutes before the scheduled landing.
- SAPA