spacetoday.net: Wing debris, photo provide little immediate help in shuttle investigation

Posted: Sat, Feb 8, 2003, 12:26 PM ET (1726 GMT)
STS-107: Air Force image of Columbia during reentry (NASA)

A photo of the space shuttle Columbia taken a minute before it broke apart, as well as the discovery of a large piece of wing debris, have proven useful but have provided no major breakthroughs in the accident investigation, NASA officials said Friday. A piece of debris from the leading edge of the wing, about 60 centimeters long, was found early Friday near Fort Worth, Texas, but investigators said Friday they were not sure yet from which wing it came. NASA also released Friday a photo of the shuttle taken by a military tracking telescope in New Mexico. The photo, whose existence was first reported early Friday by Aviation Week magazine, does appear to show a jagged edge on the left wing as well as some material streaming from the rear, but investigators said the photo provided little additional insight into the accident. Ron Dittemore, the shuttle program manager who had been giving briefings nearly every day since the accident, said Friday that the independent accident investigation board would take over the briefings from now on, with the first scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.