The February 1st breakup and crash of space shuttle Columbia during its re-entry and landing glide may well pose the greatest challenge in the history of air disaster investigation. Even as parts -- evidence -- from the doomed spacecraft rained down on millions of acres of towns, farm land and lakes from North Central Texas to Arkansas, President Bush pledged every resource of the federal government to the task of finding out what happened and why.

Looking at every possible angle
NASA officials have promised a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week effort to determine what went wrong on Columbia as it returned from its 16-day, scientific research mission.

"We're leaving nothing to chance. We're looking at every piece of evidence, we're securing all the debris and assuring we look at every possible angle of what could have caused this horrible accident," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "Our objective is to find out what caused this, fix it and make sure that we support the dream, the vision that those folks gave their lives to," said O'Keefe.

NASA has grounded the fleet of three remaining shuttles until the cause of the Columbia disaster has been determined.

Federal Agencies

• NASA Columbia Investigation Board
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
  The agency assigned to lead the federal-level effort to search for, find, and secure evidence
• FEMA Photos from Shuttle Investigation
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Latest News of the Investigation

Feb. 25, 2003

• NASA Launches Columbia Investigation Website (NASA)
• NASA Recovers Columbia Cockpit Videotape (Reuters)
• Recovered Tile Could Be Key Shuttle Clue (Reuters)

Feb. 23. 2003

• NASA's O'Keefe: E-mail warning typical (CNN)
  NASA ponders the significance of an engineer's email warning of potential devastating damage to Columbia two days before the spacecraft broke up during re-entry.

Feb. 21, 2003

• NASA Asks for Help in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico & Utah (NASA)
  NASA is asking citizens and officials in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah for help to find material from the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• NASA Assesses Columbia's Scientific Data (NASA)
  NASA scientists are continuing to assess the status of the data received by the experiments onboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) during its final mission.

Feb. 20, 2003

• Step-by-Step: How Columbia's Wing Might have Failed and Why (Space.com)

Feb. 18, 2003

• Board: Shuttle lost pieces over California (CNN)

Feb. 15, 2003

• NASA seeks more help from sky watchers (CNN)
• Columbia Landing Gear Sensor Added to List of Failures (Space.com)

Feb 13, 2003

• NASA: puncture may be to blame (CNN)
  NASA investigators determined a puncture of Columbia's left wheel well allowed super-heated gas to damage the craft's left wing during re-entry.
• NASA engineer's e-mail warned of possible disaster (CNN)
  "An e-mail passed between NASA engineers two days before the fatal breakup of the space shuttle Columbia discussed worst-case scenarios involving tiles on the orbiter's underbelly that may have been damaged shortly after liftoff, specifically dealing with failures in the wheel well." [The complete email exchange.]

Feb. 10, 2003

• NASA Identifies Edge of Columbia's Left Wing (Reuters)
• Object separated from Columbia in space (CNN)
  Investigators are examining images taken from an Air Force tracking station showing an object separating from Columbia during its second day in orbit.

Feb. 9, 2003

• NASA Probes Whether Shuttle Struck by Space Debris (Reuters)
• Columbia Debris Bound for Kennedy Space Center (Reuters)

Feb. 7, 2003

• NASA not convinced photos reveal Columbia's problem (CNN)
• NASA Finds Large Piece of Shuttle Columbia's Wing
• Searchers Seek Mystery Object from Doomed Shuttle (Reuters)
  Investigation has turned to the possibility that a meteorite or orbiting piece of space "junk" may have hit Columbia.

Feb. 5, 2003

• NASA Says Foam Likely Not Cause of Shuttle Disaster (Reuters)
• FEMA Updates Search, Find And Secure Activities For Columbia
  Deputy Director Michael Brown of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced progress in the continued search, find, and secure activities in response to the loss of the space shuttle Columbia.
• Body of Israeli Astronaut Found, Identified (Reuters)

Feb. 4, 2003

• NASA Checks Debris Reports in California, Arizona (Reuters)

Feb. 3, 2003

Columbia's sensors reported trouble
NASA confirmed that moments before breaking up, Columbia's sensors reported several significant problems, including excessive structural heat on the left side of the craft and loss of tire pressure in the left main landing gear. Columbia also rolled unexpectedly to the left as onboard computers tired to compensate by forcing a right turn. Investigators say damaged or missing heat-insulating tiles on the underside of shuttle could cause such problems.  

• Workers Find Columbia Shuttle Nose in Remote Texas (Reuters)
• Astronauts' remains being studied (CNN)
• Wing heat, launch tank are focus (CNN)
• Report: NASA Removed Advisers Who Warned on Safety (Reuters)
• Shuttle Disaster Probe Continues on Several Fronts (Reuters)

Feb. 2, 2003

• Sensors showed rising temperatures on Columbia (CNN)
• Shuttle Disaster Confirms Fears of Some Experts (Reuters)
• Human remains found amid debris (CNN)
• NASA looks to fuel tank in investigation (CNN)
• Thermal tiles key to shuttle's survival (CNN)

Retired Admiral to Lead Investigation
NASA named retired Navy admiral Harold W. Gehman Jr. to lead an independent investigation of the Columbia accident. Gehman previously served on the team that investigated the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole.