Did NASA Ignore Damage to Columbia?

Feb. 4 -- NASA managers handling the doomed Columbia flight were "professionally irresponsible" in dealing with damage reports early in the mission, a member of the presidential commission that investigated the Challenger disaster 17 years ago told ABCNEWS.

John Macidull strongly questions why NASA never ordered a telescopic scan of the underside of the damaged Columbia during its 16-day mission, even after engineers became aware insulation foam from the fuel tank had struck the heat tiles. Damage to the tiles is the leading theory as to what caused the shuttle to break up Saturday over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board.

An Air Force telescope in New Mexico did take such photos, but it was only after the accident that NASA sought them.

"I just find it hard to believe that they didn't thoroughly check with every means available to see how much damage may have been done," said Macidull.

NASA engineers at Mission Control concluded the damage posed no threat and that there was no reason to take special precautions.

"Through analysis and our ability to call back on our experience with tile, it was judged that that event did not represent a safety concern," said shuttle project manager Ron Dittemore.

Macidull said that was "wishful thinking," and that NASA has not changed the way it deals with safety problems.

"How could you make a judgment on whether something is critical or dangerous, whether some kind of damage is critical or dangerous, if you don't know exactly what the damage is? And then you don't try to find out?" said Macidull.

NASA Engineer: Tile Damage Was Serious

NASA engineers have told ABCNEWS the agency knew, or should have known, of the extensive tile damage discovered on the Columbia after a 1997 flight, when a new kind of insulation foam came off the fuel tank and caused serious damage to more than 100 heat-shield tiles.

NASA engineer Greg Katnik wrote in a NASA report that the damage was so serious that the tiles had to be replaced.