NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe came under much criticism today in a congressional hearing, after the release of NASA memos yesterday that raised safety concerns about the space shuttle Columbia.
In the internal e-mails, shuttle engineers raised fears that the left wing of the orbiter could burn off with the loss of the crew.
The memos, written in the days before the Columbia broke apart, never reached top NASA management.
The shuttle was lost during atmospheric re-entry on February 1 shortly after experiencing problems with its left wing.
At the January 16 launch, Columbia's left wing was struck by debris from the external fuel tank.
A risk assessment from Boeing, a major shuttle contractor, determined there was no landing risk. But concerns about damage to protective thermal tiles underneath the shuttle convinced midlevel shuttle engineers to consider possible problems with touchdown.
