Houston, Texas – At a meeting today with the NASA Accident Investigation Team (NAIT), the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) received evidence supporting multiple scenarios in an ongoing effort to develop a CAIB agreed working scenario. This process will continue.
The CAIB determined that in order to finalize a primary working scenario, more work is required in four areas of analysis.
Those four areas are: aerothermal analysis, foam impact testing, testing of flown reinforced carbon carbon panels, and metallurgical analysis from debris.
The NAIT provided an overview of the latest data recorder information and the CAIB issued its guidance based on that data and board investigators’ continuing analysis of the latest orbiter debris.
The CAIB has not reached any final conclusions and has not determined the cause of the loss of the shuttle and crew.
