Washington, June 24: The board investigating the the Columbia disaster in which Indian born Kalpana Chawla and seven other astronauts perished has discovered "grave flaws" in the design of the space shuttle. The list of problems include, a weak design in a device that catches heavy metal debris from the explosive separation of the shuttle`s spent rocket boosters during ascent and hazardous fuel in the orbiter`s auxiliary power units that, among other things, power the shuttle`s flight controls, experts have told the panel probing the disaster. Possile cracks in "stoody balls" deep in the orbiter`s main propulsion system could also have contributed to the disaster. "When a space shuttle is launched, the heavy duty bolts and nuts that secure it firmly to do the launch pad are designed to explode and release the vehicle as it surges into the skies with almost eight million pounds of thrust". If one or more of sturdy fixtures fails to give, experts have told the board, the result could be a horrific conflagration that could kill the crew and send torn shuttle components cartwheeling off the launch pad, the investigation board headed by Admiral Harold W Gehman said.
Meanwhile, the US space shuttle fleet could return to space as early as December, without any enormous time- consuming changes even before the independent panel probing the loss of shuttle Columbia submits its report, media reports said here today.
Bureau Report