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Columbia Public Hearing to Include Experts on Foam, Shuttle Systems
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 06:00 pm ET
05 March 2003
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COLUMBIA PUBLIC HEARING TO INCLUDE EXPERTS ON FOAM, SHUTTLE SYSTEMS HOUSTON, TEXAS The first public hearing held by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) will include experts on the foam materials used on expendable rockets, as well as on NASA management and overall space shuttle systems. The public hearing is to take place here at the University of Houston/Clear Lake on March 6. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Tyrone Woodyard, a CAIB spokesman, told SPACE.com that board members will hear from Jefferson D. Howell, Jr., Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center; Ron Dittemore, NASAs shuttle program manager; Henry McDonald, former director of the NASA Ames Research Center; and Keith Chong, a Boeing senior scientist and expert on use of foam materials on expendable launch systems. Shuttle maintenance Former Ames Research Center Director, McDonald, lead a Space Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT) from September 1999 into March 2000, studying space shuttle maintenance and operations processes. The group also provided a perspective of best practices in the aviation industry, and where applicable or appropriate how those practices could be used in the space shuttle program. The SIAT was comprised of NASA, contractor, and Department of Defense personnel. The task force looked at NASA practices, space shuttle anomalies, and civilian and military aeronautical experience. The SIAT focused their activities on eleven technical areas: Avionics, Human Factors, Hydraulics, Hypergols (fuel) and Auxiliary Power Unit, Problem Reporting and Tracking Process, Propulsion, Risk Assessment and Management, Safety and Mission Assurance, Software, Structures, and Wiring. Falling foam Chong of Boeing is an expert on the use of foam insulation applied to the large propellant tank of the Delta IV rocket developed for the U.S. Air Force under its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The board is likely to focus its interest in Boeings use of a laser detection system for the Delta IV, used to inspect foam applied to the boosters fuel tank and hardware designed to find bonding problems of foam insulation. Still an open question in the Columbia tragedy is the prospect that chunks of foam fell off the shuttles external tank and damaged the space planes delicate tile system as it shot skyward into Earth orbit.
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