The space shuttle Columbia almost certainly suffered a devastating breach of its skin, allowing superheated air inside the left wing and possibly the wheel compartment during its fiery descent, investigators said Thursday.
In its first significant determination, the accident investigation board announced that heat damage from a missing tile would not be sufficient to cause the unusual temperature increases detected inside Columbia minutes before it disintegrated. Sensors noticed an unusual heat buildup of about 30 degrees inside the wheel well before the accident.
They were also considering the possibility of a tire rupture.
"The board's announcement came one day after NASA released e-mails showing midlevel safety engineers in Virginia and Houston considered the risks of tires bursting inside Columbia's belly from heat damage."
"Robert H. Daugherty, responding to an inquiry from Johnson Space Center, cautioned in one of those e-mails that damage to insulating tiles near the landing gear door could cause one or more tires inside to rupture, perhaps ending with "catastrophic" failures that would place the seven astronauts "in a world of hurt."
Ret. Adm. Harold Gehman, who heads the panel investigating the Columbia accident, called Daugherty's concerns "one of the many, many interesting leads that we have."
