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WASHINGTON - A theory that
the US space shuttle Columbia was fatally damaged as a result of an
in-flight collision gained currency early Wednesday, after investigators
released pictures of a recovered protective tile with mysterious orange
marks.
“This is not re-entry
heat damage,” retired admiral Harold Gehman, who heads an independent
panel probing the tragic demise of Columbia and its seven crew members,
told reporters Tuesday. The
protective tile -- its surface seared from exposure to extreme heat -- has
been found by search teams near the town of Powell, in northeastern Texas. The
photographs, made public by the investigative board, showed bright orange
deposits in jugged grooves on the surface of the tile, the origin of which
Gehman conceded remained mysterious to him. Columbia
disintegrated in the sky over eastern Texas on February 1, as it was
reentering the atmosphere ahead of its scheduled landing at the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida, following a 16-day mission to the International
Space Station. Before
the doomed spacecraft lost communication with mission control in Houston,
Texas, sensors indicated a sharp rise of temperatures in some parts of the
shuttle’s left wing in an indication that hot plasma enveloping the
spaceship during descent may have penetrated its protective shielding. The
collision theory gained ground last Friday, following the release of an
analysis by the Boeing Company indicating that Columbia may have been hit
not by one, as previously thought, but three pieces of rock-hard
insulating foam that separated from the external fuel tank during the
January 16 liftoff. But
Sean O’Keefe, head of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, put
a damper on it Sunday, saying that it was just ”one of many theories,
and it’s not a favorite of anybody’s at this juncture that I’m aware
of.”
Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.
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