Gases Breached Wing of Atlantis

Superheated gases breached the left wing of the shuttle Atlantis during its fiery return to Earth in hauntingly similar fashion to the demise of Columbia nearly three years later, according to internal NASA documents.

Unlike Columbia, Atlantis suffered no irreparable damage during the May 2000 episode and, after repairs, returned to flight four months later. NASA ordered fleet-wide changes in the installation of protective wing panels and sealant materials in response to the breach.

The small leak through a seam in Atlantis’ wing during its return from the international space station was disclosed in documents sought by Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. The mission commander was James Halsell, a shuttle veteran who is now coordinating NASA’s effort to return the shuttles to flight.

Air Force Lt. Col. Woody Woodyard, a spokesman for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, said the superheated gases never penetrated deep inside Atlantis’ wing and there was no serious threat to the crew or the spacecraft.

Still, three of the Atlantis astronauts, including Halsell, said they don’t recall being told in post-flight briefings about the breach, which was not discovered until after the shuttle had landed.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said that in his conversation with Halsell, the commander told him that the problem probably wasn’t mentioned to the crew because it could be fixed easily, and officials didn’t assign any particular significance to it.

Another astronaut aboard that Atlantis flight, Col. Susan J. Helms, who has since left NASA to return to the Air Force, said she wasn’t told about the breach but that she missed the post-flight briefings because she went to Russia after the landing to be trained for a mission to the international space station. “Usually the crew will receive a rundown of all anomalies generated during the shuttle flight and should have heard about this,” she said.

Both she and fellow astronaut Mary Ellen Weber said they didn’t know if other crew members were told.

“There are thousands and thousands of things that can go wrong, and the crew is very much aware this can happen,” said Weber, who operated the robotic arm on Atlantis. “Certainly, when you learn about this, if it had progressed, it could have been much more dire.”

NASA’s James Hartsfield said crews and engineers generally participate in two months of meetings after a flight to discuss experiences and spacecraft conditions.

Some experts expressed surprise that superheated gases ever had leaked inside a shuttle’s wing. Although protective wing panels have been found damaged, even cracked, authorities outside NASA have widely believed that the Columbia disaster had been the first such breach.

NASA said it later determined that Atlantis’ exterior wing panels were not damaged by the overheating despite being discolored from the high temperatures.