spacetoday.net: Shuttle engineers may have made satellite imaging request

Posted: Fri, Mar 14, 2003, 8:36 AM ET (1336 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

Several publications reported Thursday and Friday that NASA engineers and even one senior official requested spy satellite images of the shuttle Columbia while it was in orbit, only to have those requests refused or not acted upon. The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that shuttle engineers asked shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore a few days after Columbia's launch to obtain satellite images of the shuttle to look for possible damage caused by the impact of foam or other debris during launch. Dittemore refused the request, according to published accounts, because he believed the satellite images would not provide any conclusive data. The media had previously reported that NASA officials had requested satellite imaging only to have those requests revoked by more senior officials, but the latest reports appear to refer to a separate account. However, a NASA spokesman told the Dallas Morning News Friday that not only did Dittemore not block a request, no formal request was filed. The Washington Post did report Friday that Bill Readdy, the NASA associate administrator for space flight, made an informal request to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) late in Columbia's flight for images, but that NIMA was not able to act on that request in time because of the perceived low priority of the request compared to imaging of Iraq.