Al Ruechel - Let’s cut NASA a break

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Let’s cut NASA a break
By Al Ruechel | 02-04-03

The vultures are circling. Less than 12 hours after the Columbia disaster internet blab sites started screaming for administrator’s heads. NASA knowingly is sending innocent young scientists to their graves. A retired NASA engineer mugs for 60-minutes nearly gleeful in his pronouncement. I told you so. I told the President so. I begged him to ground the shuttle program. Their blood is on his hands.

It gets worse. European newspapers on Sunday ran a story quoting inside sources that NASA top brass were ordered to keep their mouths shut about possible problems with the tiles. The articles in London and Berlin and Paris say President Bush scrubbed dozens of safety measures so he could divert more money to defense and preparation for war with Iraq. Oh, please! All of these stories and these allegations lack one significant item, the truth.

I’m warning you. If you listen to talk radio and watch 24-cable news chat shows you are the targets of misinformation. You are going to hear some of the most incredible, salacious, and whacked out comments as every slime ball, anti-technology, anti-space worm begins crawling out from under their rocks to finger point.

I covered the space program for several Florida TV stations beginning in 1980. I produced a one-hour documentary on the shuttle program and was granted access to dozens of the men and women who designed, built and were being trained to fly the shuttle. Quite by accident, I was the first person to sit in the commander’s seat of the Columbia when it was being fitted for Robert Crippen in 1981. You can see me standing in front of the lift-off clock the day the Columbia first flew, right next to the center staple in Time magazine’s year end special. I covered 18 of the first shuttle launches and the extensive revamping of the shuttle program after Challenger. It doesn’t make me an expert, but it does give me some insight into the controversy that again will cloud NASA’s future.

First, given the forces necessary to escape and return through earth’s gravitational and atmospheric barriers, space travel will always be dangerous. I can remember so clearly my first interview with Robert Crippen, the first commander of the shuttle Columbia and later the head of the Challenger investigation. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that lives would be lost during the shuttle program. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and how. Every astronaut and scientist working on this program knows that. It’s our job to make it as safe as possible realizing we are still at the mercy of our technological limitations and those limitations could end up costing lives. But it’s all a risk we think, as explorers and scientist, is worth it.”

Second, everyone has known from day one that the heat shielding tiles are the weakest link in this fragile space traveling mechanism. Everything has to work perfectly or we’ll see what happened with Columbia. The ceramic material that must absorb the heat generated by the friction from the earth’s atmosphere is as thin as your fingernail and featherweight. It’s bonded to a silica foam, much like Styrofoam, and glued to a felt pad that is, in turn, bonded to the aluminum skin of the shuttle. This is all glue, no nails or bolts or even Velcro. The tiles work so well at dissipating heat I held one in my bare hand while a NASA scientist focused a blow torch on the black surface warming it to a thousand degrees red hot. I felt nothing on my bare palm and touched the tile 5 seconds later. It wasn’t even warm. The tiles range in thickness from a half inch to three inches and must be fit preciously to each curve and bend in the shuttle. There is a tiny space between tiles to allow for heat expansion so the surface doesn’t crack. The black tiles are designed to absorb or deflect the most heat. The white tiles on the top of the shuttle aren’t designed with as much heat resistant because those areas aren’t subjected to the same intense forces as those on the bottom. The system works as along as the tiles hold and aren’t significantly damaged. Some have fallen off in the past and some have been damaged with no safety consequences. This time, it’s becoming clearer, that system failed.

So isn’t there anything better? NASA has never “loved” the tiles because each one of the 32,000 tiles has to be hand affixed to the shuttle, i.e. lots of labor costs. Each tile can fit in only one precise location. If it gets scratched you have to pull it off, clean all the surfaces and start all over again. And every tile must be inspected after each flight to determine if they must be replaced. And if they are lost during take off in any significant number there are no contingencies in place to repair them in space. (At least not yet) Still, it is the best technology to date!

So why not just develop a paint or a spray or a one time coating or a metal shield? Scientists have been trying that for years and haven’t found any solutions or materials that work as well as the ceramics. To quote my NASA buddy, “The science just isn’t there yet. Given our objectives this the best we can do.”

Three, there is nothing for NASA to hid. Before Challenger there was some reluctance to share information with the media. It had nothing to do with a desire to hide facts but rather a typical Washington bureaucratic cover-your-own-behind side step. Ask anyone who’s covered NASA and after Challenger you saw a dramatic change. Though it’s still a government show, private contractors and a space consortium are in charge. Astronauts have a greater voice in the affairs that affect their lives directly. The “go-no go” criteria are set in stone. Yes, NASA took budget hits but none of those were thought to impact the safety of the program. The press briefings are now exhaustive. Since Challenger I have never heard anyone say no comment. These are men and women who care dearly about what they do and the lives they hold in their hands. It’s not about PR now. It’s about getting it right and fixing the problem.

Finally, I ask you to remember this is a fluid situation. As shuttle program director Ron Dittemore put it, “Everything I tell you today could prove to be wrong tomorrow, but I’m just going to put it out there. Bear with us as we report to you.” That’s what I like. It’s honest, straightforward, and emotional, from the heart. Nice for a change isn’t it.

Most Americans with an once of common sense will understand this. Don’t be suckered in by those who see this as an opportunity to bash NASA or second-guess every decision made since the beginning of time. Cut NASA a break. We owe it to the legacy of the seven astronauts who understood the dangers and gave their lives on Columbia in the name of science.

“The future is not for the timid. It is reserved for the brave!”
Ronald Reagan
President of the United States

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