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Investigators have recovered part of the space shuttle Columbia's left wing, considered crucial to the investigation into why it disintegrated on re-entry, killing the seven astronauts aboard, NASA said late Monday local time.
The head of NASA said the probe was now moving into a new phase as investigators begin to sift through all the debris collected since the Columbia's loss on February 1.
The investigation "is moving at a very important rate at this stage," NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe told reporters on Monday at a Washington news conference.
"The evidence and material debris has been collected and it is moving now towards consolidation at the Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Center," said the NASA administrator.
Under fire from critics last week after putting forward, then retracting, certain theories, NASA placed the inquiry under an independent commission, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.
Data from the shuttle showed temperatures on the left side of the shuttle rose to critical levels just before it disintegrated on re-entry.
Investigators are still trying to figure out the reason for the temperature spike, which created the drag on the left wing that caused a loss of control.
(China Daily February 12, 2003)
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