Columbia Accident Investigation Board

Columbia Accident Investigation Board

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) was convened by NASA to investigate the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. In addition to determining the cause of the accident, the panel also recommends what changes should be made to increase the safety of future shuttle flights. The CAIB released it's final report on August 26, 2003.

Table of contents

1 Major findings
2 Board recommendations
3 Board members

3.1 Board support
3.2 Partial list of additional investigators and CAIB support staff

4 External links
5 References

Major findings

82 seconds after launch a large piece of foam insulating material from the external tank broke free and struck the leading edge of the shuttle's left wing, damaging the protective carbon heat shielding tiles. This damage allowed super-heated gases to enter the wing structure during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere and caused the destruction of the Columbia.

Board recommendations

The board recommended to NASA that several things should be done to improve the safety of future shuttle flights. These recommendations include:

Foam from external tank should not break free
Better pre-flight inspection routines
Increase quality of images available of shuttle during ascent and on-flight
Recertify all shuttle components by the year 2010

Board members

Chairman of the board

Admiral Hal Gehman, USN

Board members

Rear Admiral Stephen Turcotte, Commander, Naval Safety Center
Maj. General John Barry, Director, Plans and Programs, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command
Maj. General Kenneth W. Hess, Commander, Air Force Safety Center
Dr. James N. Hallock, Chief, Aviation Safety Division, Department of Transportation, Volpe Center
Mr. Steven B. Wallace, Director of Accident Investigation, Federal Aviation Administration
Brig. General Duane Deal, Commander, 21st Space Wing, United States Air Force
Mr. Scott Hubbard, Director, NASA Ames Research Center
Mr. Roger E. Tetrault, Retired Chairman, McDermott International, Inc.
Dr. Sheila Widnall, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems, MIT
Dr. Douglas D. Osheroff, Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Stanford University
Dr. Sally Ride, Professor of Space Science, University of California at San Diego
Dr. John Logsdon, Director of the Space Policy Institute, George Washington University

Board support

Ex-Officio Member: Lt. Col. Michael J. Bloomfield, NASA Chief Astronaut Instructor
Executive Secretary: Mr. Theron Bradley, Jr., NASA Chief Engineer

Partial list of additional investigators and CAIB support staff

Col. Jack Anthony
Dr. James P. Bagian
Lt. Col. Richard J. Burgess
Thomas L. Carter
Dr. Dwayne A. Day
Major Tracy Dillinger
Thomas L. Foster
CDR Mike Francis
Howard E. Goldstein
Lt. Col Patrick A. Goodman
Ronald K. Gress
Thomas Haueter
Dr. Daniel Heimerdinger
Dennis R. Jenkins
Christopher Kirchhoff
Dr. Gregory T. A. Kovacs
John F. Lehman
Jim Mosquera
Gary Olson
Gregory Phillips
David B. Pye
Lester A. Reingold
Donald J. Rigali
Dr. James. W. Smiley
G. Mark Tanner
Lt. Col. Wade J. Thompson
Bob Vallaster
Lt. Col. Donald J. White
Dr. Paul D. Wilde
LCDR Johnny R. Wolfe Jr.

External links

References

CAIB panel and staff information retrieved Feb. 15, 2004 from http://www.caib.us/board_members/default.html