And, believing this, it is conceivable that the folks on the ground would not have rushed to alarm Columbia's crew or the public. It is conceivable - indeed it may even be likely - that NASA's engineers truly believed that the incident on liftoff would not unduly affect re-entry. NASA then told the astronauts about what they called an 'off-nominal' event, explained the situation, and then allowed the crew to continue on with what would be their last flight. Apparently, the Agency's best and brightest determined that there was nothing anyone could do.

We also know that the folks at NASA discovered this incident the next day and then spent a good deal of time evaluating film of the liftoff frame-by-frame to determine whether there was anything anyone could do about the problem while Columbia was in orbit.

We know that something - probably protective foam- from the external fuel tank fell off and struck the left wing of Columbia 80 seconds after liftoff on Jan. I didn't hear any journalists come right out and ask NASA officials about whether this is true - in times of tragedy there is a politeness protocol, after all, even for reporters - but several press conference questions Saturday and Sunday clearly suggested that this sad story might go in that direction, among others.

Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and .Īmid the sometimes poignant, sometimes maudlin coverage of the Columbia disaster this weekend percolated the unsettling notion that the seven astronauts on the Shuttle might have been doomed from the earliest moments of their flight, that their supervisors might have suspected this, but that no one told the crew about what their doomed fate might be.

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