Columbia horror 'was extended'
2003-03-11 12:03
Houston - Even though space shuttle Columbia apparently was out of control with severe damage to its left side, the shuttle's main body did not break apart for another 17 seconds, according to the latest flight timeline.
The spaceship experienced the bulk of its breakup later than previously thought - and also began exhibiting problems earlier than suspected, under the timeline released on Monday.
No one at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is speculating, at least openly, how long the seven astronauts may have survived under this new scenario.
What is apparent, though, is that alarms were going off in the final two seconds of transmitted data: the left orbital maneuvering system and the left wing were either heavily damaged or gone, and the spaceship was swinging out of control.
Sensors registered the maximum so-called yaw rate of 20 degrees a second, and it could have been more.
"Data suggests vehicle was in an uncommanded attitude and was exhibiting uncontrolled rates," states the master timeline, which was prepared by Nasa and presented to the Columbia accident investigation board.
Debris started falling off
Thirteen seconds after all communication ceased, a large, major piece of debris was seen falling away from the shuttle, according to the timeline.
A second piece came off a second later. And the start of the breakup of the ship's main body happened three seconds after that - and a full 17 seconds from the time the last bit of data was conveyed.
Columbia disintegrated above Texas on February 1, just minutes shy of a touchdown in Florida.
The timeline - labelled Revision 14 and expected to be replaced by No 15 in just a few days - emphasises that the last two seconds of data are suspect because of multiple errors. "Some of the conclusions drawn below may be in error or misinterpreted," the timeline cautions.
On Sunday, officials acknowledged that, based on this reconstructed data, one of the shuttle pilots may have tried to override the autopilot or may have bumped the manual control stick. In any event, the autopilot remained on, according to the data.
When asked if anything else could be gleaned about the crew's actions from the final two seconds of data - or how long the astronauts may have survived - Nasa's James Hartsfield said: "We're not using this data to further interpret crew actions."
Nasa and other experts have been trying for weeks to reconstruct the last two seconds of data. It has been a difficult job because of the poor quality of the information.
The investigation board received the latest timeline from Nasa at the weekend. Its members are still trying to ascertain whether launch debris caused a breach in the left wing, quite possibly along the leading edge. - Sapa-AP
On the Net:
Columbia accident investigation board: http://www.caib.us
- SAPA