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-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 o ....
-columbia, this is cnn. how do you read me? -hey, cnn. we ve got you loud and clear. -stand by, and we ll have you on the tele here very shortly. say hello to the crew of the space shuttle columbia, now traveling above the pacific at 17,300 miles an hour, 150 miles above us, waving to us. let s give you an idea of who s who. i remember interviewing the crew in space. rick husband, the commander, second mission. laurel clark. prepping for that interview, i thought about the foam strike and how to handle it. but on launch day, when i saw that.footage, i wasn t sure what to think about it. i m not a rocket scientist, so i called to somebody who i know knew very well at nasa. i said, help me understand how worried i should be for this. and he said, oh, it s foam. it s very light material. probably doesn t cause any damage. ....
On her 28th flight, the 113th shuttle mission, 16 days seemingly flawless ending with a sudden and seemingly inexplicable disintegration over northeast texas. things happened very quickly. there was a conversation, a transmission from rick husband, the shuttle commander, sort of half of a roger, if you will, that kind of thing, and it was all over. let s try to put together what we know and give you a sense of where this investigation might be headed. i felt like it was my responsibility to talk about the foam strike, to get it out there in the public. if you take a close-up here, that bipod is the place where they think a little piece of foam fell off and hit the leading edge of that wing. i talked to the folks in the control room, and i said, you know, can you cue up the launch replays? ....
But, i mean, i was in mission control. i was a nasa employee. i knew about the foam strike. when there s blame that s laid out, i am right up there saying i knew. and i and i wish i could ve done something differently. but i-i can t undo that. and it you can just make it better for those that follow. -i feel ashamed. so, who s guilty? i m not just gonna say the program managers are. we re all guilty. if you don t speak up for your own system and you re the victims of this environment, we re guilty, too. -during the mission, i could have easily done a story saying, this thing happened. while nasa is saying it s nothing, some engineers believe there may be some concern. what if i had done that? ....
And if somebody says, hey, let s get better data to make a decision, why is getting better data a-a problem? but, i mean, i was in mission control. i was a nasa employee. i knew about the foam strike. when there s blame that s laid out, i am right up there saying i knew. and i and i wish i could ve done something differently. but i-i can t undo that. and it you can just make it better for those that follow. -i feel ashamed. so, who s guilty? i m not just gonna say the program managers are. we re all guilty. if you don t speak up for your own system and you re the victims of this environment, we re guilty, too. -during the mission, i could have easily done a story saying, this thing happened. ....