spacetoday.net: Columbia investigators shift focus from T-seal

Posted: Wed, Apr 30, 2003, 1:53 PM ET (1753 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

Members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) said Tuesday that they believe it is less likely that a T-seal on the leading edge of the shuttle's left wing was the site of a foam debris impact during launch. Board members said they think the foam chunks hit a little closer towards the fuselage of the orbiter, on an adjacent reinforced carbon-carbon panel. Investigators still think that the object spotted on radar floating away from the orbiter one day after launch was a piece of a T-seal, and they believe they have narrowed down the site of the hole in the leading edge of the wing to within about 75 centimeters. The hole itself is believed to have had an area of at least 650 square centimeters. The CAIB plans to present its "working hypothesis" for the accident as early as the end of next week. Work on the investigation continues on several fronts, including the analysis of small pieces of debris found Tuesday on a mountainside east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. If the debris is found to be from the shuttle, it will be the westernmost site from which debris has been located to date.