NASA Engineer's Shuttle Warning

8:22am UK, Saturday February 22, 2003

A Nasa engineer warned of the possibility of "grave damage" to the Shuttle Columbia days before the spacecraft broke up on February 1.

Nasa employee Robert Daugherty expressed concern that a debris impact on Columbia's left wing shortly after launch may have created a hole big enough to cause excessive heat in the landing gear.

Shuttle debris falls to Earth

He had sent emails to colleagues in Nasa's middle ranks saying the damage measured at least 7 inches by 30 inches.

Concerns

"One of the bigger concerns is the gouge may cross the main (landing) gear door thermal barrier and permit a breach there. No way to know of course."

Nasa said that officials higher up in the agency did not see the messages.

The agency earlier released a January 30 e-mail by Mr Daugherty in which he warned of several possible scenarios caused by heat in the wheel well, all of them with dire consequences.

'World of hurt'

"Something could get screwed up enough to prevent (landing gear) deployment and then you are in a world of hurt," he wrote.

Two other e-mails released by Nasa showed that some Nasa engineers think ice, not insulation may have struck Columbia.

Last week, an investigating board said it appeared a breach in Columbia's heat shielding tiles let superheated plasma into the wheel well area, which caused the spacecraft to disintegrate over Texas.

All seven astronauts on board died.

Struck wing

Nasa has been looking at a piece of what it believes was fuel tank insulation that flew off and struck the left wing about 80 seconds after takeoff.

The debris hit was studied for several days while Columbia circled the earth before shuttle flight directors decided it could not have seriously damaged the oldest shuttle.

They told the astronauts it was safe to come home.

The spacecraft was 16 minutes from landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida when Nasa lost contact with the Shuttle.