-for the second time in nasa s history, a space shuttle has been lost along with its entire crew. once again, we are asking ourselves, how could this have happened? -do you have any idea how big that piece of foam was that came off? -we d heard some reports that during launch there had been some concerns that some debris hit the wing. is that true and is that any cause of concern and that could have caused today s problems? -it is true. it was judged that, erm , that event did not represent a safety concern. -this happened under my watch, but i didn t have the answers. in every public forum i m gonna have to be in, how am i gonna explain this to anybody? at this time, we have no indication that the mishap was caused by anything or anyone on the ground. -nasa never wants to look stupid. nasa wants to be the agency with the answers. -my thoughts are on what we missed, what i missed to allow this to happen. -but if you overlook something, it will come to bite you one day or anot
who didn t believe that foam could break reinforced carbon-carbon. -we re here at southwest research institute in san antonio, texas, to conduct a test to show whether foam could create a hole big enough to destroy the vehicle. -everything came down to whether or not the foam shot was gonna break an rcc panel. but if our investigative analysis is wrong, then what? -five, four, three, two, one. -whoa! [ indistinct chatter ] -ok. foam will break reinforced carbon-carbon. -i mean, there was no doubt at that point, right?
I think we have enough information to say we found the physical cause of the shuttle crash. But there were still people at nasa who didnt believe that foam could break reinforced carboncarbon. Were here at Southwest Research Institute in san antonio, texas, to conduct a test to show whether foam could create a hole big enough to destroy the vehicle. Everything came down to whether or not the Foam Shot was gonna break an rcc panel. But if our investigative analysis is wrong, then what . Five, four, three, two, one. Whoa [ Indistinct Chatter ]