Posted: Sat, Feb 1, 2003, 6:54 PM ET (2354 GMT)
NASA officials said Saturday afternoon that the first evidence of a problem with the space shuttle Columbia came with the loss of sensor readings on the left wing, the same wing that may have suffered damage during launch. Milt Heflin, the chief flight director, said the first evidence of a problem came at 8:53 am EST (1353 GMT) with the loss of data from temperature sensors in the hydraulics system of the elevons on the rear of the left wing. Three minutes later temperature and pressure sensors in the left wing landing gear assembly recorded increases. Two minutes after that, temperature sensors on the left side of the vehicle went offline. At 8:59:22 am EST (1359:22 GMT) all data was lost from the shuttle. NASA officials confirmed that the leading edge of the left wing suffered what appeared to be minor damage when a chunk of insulation from the shuttle's external tank hit the wing during launch. Managers investigated the problem while the shuttle was in orbit but decided it would not pose a problem during reentry. Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore cautioned that while he couldn't discount that there could be a connection, he warned against a rush to judgment, saying that "there are a lot of things in this business that look to be a smoking gun that turn out to be not even close."

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now mission status center
•  SPACE.com mission status center
•  Florida Today mission status center