The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 10, 2003, Image 6

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6A
Monday, February 10, 2003
NEWS
THE BATTALION
NEWS
THE batt
Investigators trying to identify
object spotted near Columbia
By Marcia Dunn
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Investigators are trying to
identify an object spotted near
Columbia shortly after it
reached orbit as they try to
determine what caused the shut
tle to break apart.
Retired Adm. Harold W.
Gehman Jr., who is leading an
independent board investigating
the disaster, told reporters
Sunday that the tracking data
from the U.S. Space Command
Center in Nebraska could poten
tially be water that is routinely
dumped from the shuttle, which
then turned to ice.
“It could well have been an
on-orbit piece associated with
the shuttle which was supposed
to have been there,” Gehman
said. He stressed that the report
still needs to be analyzed.
Meanwhile, investigators
continued to study a 2-foot sec
tion of Columbia’s wing and a
300-pound object that appears
to be a door panel from one of
the shuttle’s wheel wells found
in Texas.
The wing includes the car
bon-covered edge designed to
protect Columbia’s insulating
tiles during re-entry and could
provide hard evidence of what
went wrong, NASA
Administrator Sean O’Keefe
said Saturday.
Gehman would not comment
Sunday on whether the wing
piece was from the shuttle’s left
side, which could prove signifi
cant because Columbia’s trou
bles began in the left wing.
In the shuttle’s final eight
minutes the morning of Feb. I,
temperatures surged in the left
landing gear compartment, and
the brake lines began overheat
ing one by one. Sensors began
showing overheating across
other areas of the left wing and
adjoining fuselage before
Mission Control lost all contact.
Every possible scenario is
still being considered, from the
impact of a large chunk of hard
insulating foam that hit the shut
tle seconds after liftoff Jan. 16,
to a strike from a piece of space
junk, to a lightning-like electri
cal phenomenon.
Columbia’s final flight
NASA announced Friday the recovery of a leading edge of one of
Columbia’s wings. The find could be the break investigators have
been in search for. NASA wants to know what caused the increased
temperature readings and final interruption in data from the left
wing just before the disintegration of the Columbia last Saturday.
Preliminary investigation times
8:52 a.m. EST-
Three left brake
line sensors
show unusual
temperature rise,
first indication of
heat problem in
wheel well on
shuttle's
underside.
8:53 - As shuttle
flies over
California, fourth
left brake
temperature
measurement
rises 30 to 40
degrees in five
minutes.
8:54 - Temperature
next to left wing rises
60 degrees over five
minutes. On right
side, there's a normal
temperature rise of
15 degrees.
Temperature in
payload bay holds
steady.
8:57 - As shuttle
passes over
Arizona and New
Mexico, left wing
temperature
sensors stop
sending signals.
8:58 - Loss'
landing gear tire
pressure, wheel
temperature
measurements.
Shuttle
experiences
increase in drag
on left side.
8:59 - Eight more temperature and
pressure measures for left tires are
lost. One measurement remains
visible to crew on a display panel.
Shuttle fires two jets for 11/2
seconds in attempt to counteract
increasing drag. Final transmission
from crew received.
SOURCE: NASA
O’Keefe spoke following a
memorial service at Louisiana’s
Barksdale Air Force Base,
where pieces of the shuttle are
being stored. Searchers have
recovered remains of all seven
astronauts and more than 12,000
pieces of debris that rained
down across two states.
AP
Late Saturday, NASA said
the U.S. Strategic Command
apparently tracked something
flying near Columbia after it
had reached orbit. Space
agency spokeswoman Eileen
Hawley said it was possible the
object came from Columbia,
but stressed “this is very raw
data” that had just been turned
over to investigators and that it
was too early to speculate.
Imagery experts also are
poring over a high-resolution
photo taken by an Air Force
telescope a minute or two
before Columbia broke apart
during re-entry. Some have
suggested the leading edge of
the left wing looks as if it
could be damaged, and the
photo shows a gray streak that
could be a fiery plume trailing
the wing.
NASA continues to gather
evidence through an extensive
debris search, centered primari
ly in Texas and Louisiana.
Meanwhile, about 1,000
people gathered Saturday in a
church across the street from
the debris search command
center in Lufkin to remember
the astronauts as a fun-loving
but heroic group.
NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby,
who recalled visiting the crew's
lively table at the NASA
Christmas party, said the crew
was a generous, caring bunch
with a great sense of humor.
“They actually baked cakes for
their training instructors on
their birthdays,” he said.
Gov. Rick Perry told the
group at the First Baptist church
that the astronauts “remind us
that the future belongs to the
brave and the bold.”
In Hemphill, searchers also
paused to observe the exact
moment the shuttle broke up a
week before. “There was total
silence in the room, about a
minute, and then we went on
with life,” said Marq Webb, U.S.
Forest Service spokesman.
American Columbia astronauts ha//
; , y j n ' .i\ ..
no special life insurance, NASA says
By Theresa Ago Vino
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Americans who died aboard space
shuttle Columbia were eligible for the stan
dard life insurance offered to military per
sonnel and federal employees, but NASA
canied no special, coverage specifically for
astronauts, officials say.
“There is a limit on what type of benefits
the federal government provides,” said
NASA spokeswoman Eileen Hawley.
! “We look at this as larger than a mone
tary issue,” she said. “We are committed to
helping these families and we have a support
network. They are ... going to be part of the
NASA family.”
Five of the astronauts were members of the
U.S. military and eligible for coverage under
Service members Group Life Insurance,
which has a standard death benefit of
$250,000. The monthly premium ranges from
$20 for the maximum coverage to 80 cents for
a reduced coverage of $10,000. There is no
increased payment for military members if the
death is work-related.
The military does provide the surviving
spouse $935 a month, plus an additional
$234 per child until age 18. It also provides
other benefits such as $6,000 in cash for
immediate needs and up to $6,900 for burial
costs and housing allowances. These bene
fits are provided regardless of how the serv
ice member died.
NASA provides the surviving spouse half
the deceased’s salary, plus $24,354 annually,
but that applies only to the lone civilian
astronaut, Kalpana Chawla. NASA is not
disclosing salaries of the victims, but the
agency says an astronaut’s salary can range
from $56,247 to $86,974.
As a NASA employee, Chawla was eli
gible for coverage under Federal
Employees Group Life Insurance, which
provides basic coverage equal to the indi
vidual’s annual salary, plus $2,000. It
allows the worker to increase coverage up
to $200,000 by paying more in premiums.
NASA officials said they believe Israeli
astronaut Ilan Ramon, the only non-
American aboard Columbia when the stall-
tie broke apart Feb. 1, would have had life
insurance coverage through his service in
the Israeli Air Force, but had no details.
Israel’s Defense Department declined com
ment.
Both the Defense Department and the
Office of Personnel Management cited priva
cy considerations in declining to discuss the
specific insurance coverage of any individ
ual.
After the 1986 Challenger explosion,the
families of that shuttle’s seven astronauts
received legal settlements in addition to any
insurance payments. Four families shared a
$7.7 million settlement from rocket manu
facturer Morton Thoikol Inc. and the gov
ernment. The three other families received
an undisclosed sum from Morton Thoikol.
The family of Christa McAuliffe, a
teacher who was on the Challenger, received
the proceeds of a $1 million policy that tad
been donated to her by Washington insur
ance broker Corroon & Black Inspace Inc.
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