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STS-107 Mishap Response Status Rpt No 05
Saturday, Feb. 15, 2003 - 2 p.m. CST
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

STS-107 Mishap Response Status Report #5 Saturday, Feb. 15, 2003
 - 2 p.m. CST

Two additional attitude control jets aboard Columbia fired after voice 
communication was lost with the shuttle, an analysis of data from the 
subsequent seconds indicates. Two other yaw control jets were known to 
have fired earlier, but the analysis indicates that a third and fourth 
yaw jet also activated in an attempt to maintain control of the 
vehicle. 

One of five General Purpose Computers aboard Columbia also has been
found among debris shipped to the Kennedy Space Center. The computer
was badly damaged and its battery was missing. General Purpose
Computers have no hard drives, so investigators held out little hope
of extracting additional information.

A shuttle main engine turbopump has been recovered not far from Ft.
Polk in Louisiana. The pump was buried about 14 feet below the
ground's surface.

As of early Saturday, the western boundary of the debris field
remained just west of the Fort Worth, Texas, area. Still, teams
continued to investigate reports of debris as far west as California.
A search for debris is under way in the Sandia Mountains just east of
Albuquerque, based on witness reports of sonic booms and impact noise
in that area. 

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board Chairman Adm. Hal Gehman
today announced the appointment of Sheila Widnall, former Secretary of 
the Air Force, to the board. Dr. Widnall is a member of the faculty of 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gehman and some of the 
board members are scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday at 2 
p.m. CST at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Board members spent today at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New
Orleans, where shuttle external tanks are fabricated. The board
planned to return to Houston Saturday night.

For more information about NASA on the Internet, see:
   www.nasa.gov

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