NASA Mishap Response Status #05<br />Saturday, Feb. 15, 2003 - 2 p.m. CST<br />Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas<br /><br />STS-107 Mishap Response Status Report #5 Saturday, Feb. 15, 2003 - 2 p.m.<br />CST<br /><br />Two additional attitude control jets aboard Columbia fired after voice<br />communication was lost with the shuttle, an analysis of data from the<br />subsequent seconds indicates. Two other yaw control jets were known to have<br />fired earlier, but the analysis indicates that a third and fourth yaw jet<br />also activated in an attempt to maintain control of the vehicle.<br /><br />One of five General Purpose Computers aboard Columbia also has been found<br />among debris shipped to the Kennedy Space Center. The computer was badly<br />damaged and its battery was missing. General Purpose Computers have no hard<br />drives, so investigators held out little hope of extracting additional<br />information.<br /><br />A shuttle main engine turbopump has been recovered not far from Ft. Polk in<br />Louisiana. The pump was buried about 14 feet below the ground's surface.<br /><br />As of early Saturday, the western boundary of the debris field remained just<br />west of the Fort Worth, Texas, area. Still, teams continued to investigate<br />reports of debris as far west as California. A search for debris is under<br />way in the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque, based on witness<br />reports of sonic booms and impact noise in that area.<br /><br />The Columbia Accident Investigation Board Chairman Adm. Hal Gehman today<br />announced the appointment of Sheila Widnall, former Secretary of the Air<br />Force, to the board. Dr. Widnall is a member of the faculty of the<br />Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gehman and some of the board members<br />are scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday at 2 p.m. CST at Johnson<br />Space Center in Houston.<br /><br />Board members spent today at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans,<br />where shuttle external tanks are fabricated. The board planned to return to<br />Houston Saturday night.<br /><br />For more information about NASA on the Internet, see:<br /><br />www.nasa.gov