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Glenn Mahone/Robert N. Mirelson
Headquarters, Washington                      Feb. 4, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1600)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

RELEASE: 03-051

NASA PROVIDES UPDATE ABOUT COLUMBIA INVESTIGATION

     As NASA paused to pay tribute to Columbia's astronauts, the 
agency reported making "considerable progress" in recovering debris 
from the Space Shuttle and analyzing data in the search for clues to 
what caused the orbiter to breakup 16 minutes before its landing last 
Saturday.

President and Mrs. Bush joined NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in 
honoring astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, Dave Brown, Kalpana 
Chawla, Mike Anderson, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon in a ceremony at 
the Johnson Space Center, Houston. President Bush said the nation was 
"blessed" to have such men and women serving the space program, and 
although NASA is being tested at this time, "America's space program 
will go on."

In an afternoon briefing, Michael Kostelnik, NASA's Associate 
Administrator for International Space Station and Space Shuttle said 
several engineering teams continue to work round-the-clock to 
reconstruct the timeline of the final minutes of Columbia's flight 
from extensive data that is being analyzed.

Kostelnik said the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, chaired by 
retired U.S. Navy Admiral Harold W. Gehman, Jr., is on scene at 
Barksdale Air Force Base, La. where the recovery of debris and human 
remains is being coordinated.

Kostelnik reported that larger and denser pieces of debris have been 
found in Louisiana, possibly including parts of Columbia's main 
engines. He said recovery teams have been dispatched to California and 
Arizona, where debris has been reported. Kostelnik indicated debris 
recovered from areas farthest to the west would be critical, possibly 
providing information about the early stages of Columbia's breakup.

Earlier today, a Russian Progress resupply ship successfully docked to 
the International Space Station at 9:49 a.m. EST, delivering a ton of 
food, fuel and supplies to Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight 
Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit. 
Progress has given the Station resident crew a "solid" supply of 
consumables, enough to sustain operations through at least late June, 
according to Kostelnik.

Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit opened the hatches between the ISS and 
the Progress today, and they will begin unloading its supplies on 
Wednesday.

Asked about contingency planning for the Station for the rest of the 
year, Kostelnik said all options to sustain a human presence on board 
in the temporary absence of Shuttle flights are being explored. The 
next Shuttle flight aboard Atlantis in March was to have brought the 
Expedition 7 crew to the ISS and returned to Earth the current 
resident crew.

Two STS-107 update briefings will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 5. They 
will be broadcast on NASA Television with multi-center question and 
answer capability for reporters at NASA centers. The first briefing, 
with NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight Bill Readdy, is 
from NASA Headquarters in Washington at 11:30 a.m. EST. The second, 
with Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore, from the Johnson 
Space Center, is at 4:30 p.m. EST.

NASA TV is on AMC-2, Transponder 9C, vertical polarization at 85 
degrees west longitude, 3880 MHz, with audio at 6.8 MHz.

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