Zach Pauley

Investigation of Columbia tragedy continues

On Feb. 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas, killing all crew members on board.Since then, NASA's investigation into the cause of the crash has brought up some intriguing possibilities. It may come as a surprise that there were signs of trouble even when the shuttle was taking off. Foam fell off a fuel tank and struck the heat-resistant tiles on the left wing of the ship when it lifted off.This was not perceived to be a significant threat to safe reentry when the leak occurred. As late as January 31, 2003, there were malfunctions in hydraulic temperature and tire pressure readings as well as problems with different kinds of equipment on the left side of the ship. After last week's disaster, investigators immediately took a second look at the material previously dislodged from the shuttle during launch. Now that the investigation has progressed, however, reports continue to dismiss the possibility of the liftoff debris as a cause for the crash.