Radar Shows Object ‘in Vicinity’ of Shuttle

Department of Defense officials scouring routine radar samples have discovered evidence of an object “in the vicinity” of the space shuttle Columbia as it settled into orbit during the second day of its mission, NASA officials said Saturday night.

According to the radar images, the object neared the Columbia then appeared to pass by, officials said, and may have struck it. The data, which NASA was only beginning to analyze, could mark a pivotal turn in the exhaustive but thus-far frustrating investigation into the craft’s Feb. 1 disintegration over Texas.

Several former NASA officials said it could support the notion that the space shuttle was not the victim of a launch-pad accident, as many have surmised, but was struck by some sort of space junk or a tiny meteorite. Some analysts believe an impact like that, even if it was so soft that it was not detected by the crew, Columbia’s computers or Mission Control in Houston, could have opened enough of a wound to destroy the craft.

“Whether this is something pertinent or not, that data is still being assessed,” said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield. “We don’t have answers yet. We’re getting information that is interesting, but we have to assess it.”

U.S. Navy Lt. Mitch Holmes confirmed Saturday night that the Department of Defense has turned the data over to NASA. He said the U.S. Air Force Space Command operates a bank of radar and optical telescopes that track an estimated 8,500 pieces of man-made debris in space, each at least as large as a baseball. One of those pieces is believed to be the item that popped up on the radar.

Holmes said it was unclear why it took more than a week for the data to reach NASA.

“There are thousands -- hundreds of thousands -- of bits of information they are trying to piece together,” he said. “I’m not sure why this is coming across now.”

The radar images were captured Jan. 17, a day after the Columbia lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The images show an “item or object in the vicinity” of the shuttle, Hartsfield said.

It remained unclear what the object was -- it could merely mark the everyday operation of the space shuttle. For example, the crew could have performed a routine dumping of waste or wastewater, which could have been enough to register a blip on high-level radar.

About 80 seconds after the shuttle lifted off Jan. 16, a 2.7-pound piece of foam insulation fell off an external fuel tank and struck the left wing portion of the shuttle. Engineers discovered the incident while reviewing video of the launch.

As the Columbia carried out its mission, including scores of science experiments in space, NASA launched an investigation into the amount of damage the foam insulation might have caused. They concluded that even under the worst scenarios that they could feed into their computers, the insulation would have damaged a 32-inch-long strip of heat-resistant tiles -- not enough to threaten the craft or the crew.

Still, that incident marked the most evident glitch in the mission, and following the destruction of the shuttle there was widespread speculation that NASA had underestimated the damage the insulation had caused. Even some NASA officials began to openly question the initial diagnosis of that incident, particularly after receiving data tracking the shuttle’s last minutes that showed a series of sensor failures on its left wing, the same area hit by the foam insulation.

Even though that scenario has not been discounted, engineers held their ground. Last week, they remained unconvinced the foam was the culprit; they said they were focusing on a range of theories, including the possibility that the shuttle was struck by some sort of space junk or even a small meteorite.

Their theory is that a small piece of debris damaged one or several of the 24,000 ceramic tiles that surround the bulk of the shuttle to protect it from the intense heat of reentering the atmosphere. The damage, although not detectable during the mission, was enough to allow heat or flame into the body of the craft, starting a chain reaction somewhere over California or Arizona that ultimately brought it down over Texas and Louisiana, they theorize.

“Did we take some hit?” Milt Heflin, NASA’s chief flight director, said in an interview Tuesday at Johnson Space Center. “That’s a possibility. Something was breached.”

Still, there are several problems with the theory, engineers acknowledge.

Among them is that the shuttle is intentionally flown in relatively low, “clean” orbit where there is less debris and fewer meteorites. Also, the Air Force carefully maps all large pieces of debris and coordinates each mission with NASA to protect the shuttle.

Also Saturday, the families of the seven astronauts killed aboard Columbia thanked the world for an outpouring of support and love, and said NASA should be seen as a “beacon of hope and light.”

In a joint statement issued through NASA, the crew’s relatives said they and space agency officials have been “overwhelmed” by the volume of cards, letters and calls received from the public. The families also noted that a makeshift shrine at the front gates of Houston’s Johnson Space Center -- where the astronauts trained for several years before their ill-fated mission -- continues to grow, blossoming with balloons, flowers and messages from nations across the globe.

“We would also like the world community to know that as terrible and as difficult as this journey has been and will continue to be for all of our families, we cannot stress enough how blessed and honored we feel to be counted as members of the NASA family,” the statement read. “We proudly support the noble goals and objectives of NASA, and we will continue to support NASA in its finest and its darkest hours. It is our deepest hope that you also will continue to share in our belief and support of NASA’s dreams. We believe NASA is a beacon of hope and light to all nations.”

The statement came as federal officials gathered for a memorial service Saturday in Louisiana, the culmination of a week’s worth of funerals and services for the Columbia crew.

Saturday’s service -- following similar events in Orange County and Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Houston; Washington, D.C.; and elsewhere -- was held at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, La., where much of the space shuttle debris is being taken for investigation.

Authorities in east Texas continued their search for wreckage -- and their skirmish with looters.

In Nacogdoches County, the sheriff’s department ended a “grace period” during which area residents who had looted pieces of debris could turn the items into authorities without risk of arrest. Dozens of people in east Texas turned in debris through the amnesty program, but local officials said as many as a dozen people could still be investigated for looting.