The Columbia Accident Investigation Board has identified about a dozen shuttle program safety concerns it will address in its final report, in addition to foam shedding from the Lockheed Martin external tank-believed by many board members to be the direct cause for the loss of Columbia and her crew. As new evidence narrows the location of Columbia's left-wing breach to a lower corner of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) Panel 8 and its adjoining T-seal, the board is broadening its penetration of other shuttle safety issues. As the board works in Houston, United Space Alliance technicians here at Kennedy last week sent the first six of 22 RCC panels from the orbiter Atlantis left wing to Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. in Dallas for extensive testing to assess their integrity. The move is a key step toward both returning the shuttle to flight with Atlantis and obtaining more data on RCC panels subjected to fewer flights, and less exposure to the weather, than the older panels used on Columbia.
Columbia Accident Probe Widens
2003-05-26
Miscellaneous
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English
Air New Zealand widens services
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