spacetoday.net: Columbia recorder reveals heat damage started early

Posted: Mon, Mar 31, 2003, 10:18 AM ET (1518 GMT)
OEX recorder from Columbia (CAIB)

An initial analysis of data on a flight recorder recovered earlier this month shows that temperatures within the left wing of the shuttle Columbia started rising earlier than once thought, officials said Sunday. A review of data from the Orbital Experiments (OEX) recorder showed that sensors in the left wing first noticed sharp temperature spikes at 8:51:09 am EST (1351:09 GMT), just 16 seconds after the shuttle entered the peak heating region of its reentry profile. That is about one minute earlier than previously believed, based on data downlinked from the shuttle during reentry. The data suggest that the shuttle’s wing was damaged prior to reentry, most likely from damage suffered to the leading edge during launch. Over 100 people worked on the data over the weekend at the Johnson Space Center; investigators plan to continue their efforts to extract data from the OEX recorder this week.