WORLD NEWS TONIGHT (06:30 PM ET) - ABC February 9, 2003
SHUTTLE COLUMBIA DID CUTBACKS EFFECT SAFETY?
CAROLE SIMPSON, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) In Texas, researchers have found a 300-pound object that could be a door from the space shuttle Columbia's wheelwell. As the search for debris continues, investigators are looking closely at everything including the shuttle's program financing and whether cutbacks may have compromised safety. ABC's Jeffrey Kofman reports from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
JEFFREY KOFMAN, ABC NEWS
(Voice Over) Was Columbia doomed on takeoff by that piece of insulation foam that hit the wing? In flight by space junk or a meteorite or on re- entry, by the failure of its heat shielding tiles? Or was Columbia doomed long before its launch because of budget cuts?
JOHN PIKE, ABC NEWS CONSULTANT
I think there's every reason to anticipate that when we learn the source of the loss of the Columbia, that the loss of Columbia will ultimately be traced to just not enough money.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Off Camera) Back in the 1960s when Saturn five rockets like this helped put man on the moon, NASA got almost four percent of the Federal budget. Today, it gets less than one percent.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) In Congress, enthusiasm for space exploration has fallen flat over the last decade, along with NASA's budget.
BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES BOLDEN, FORMER SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT
There have been a significant number of improvements that we would like to make to the shuttle system. There are a significant number of completions that we would like to make to the international space station. We didn't have the funds to do that.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Voice Over) Faced with squeezed budgets, NASA's new motto has become, faster, better, cheaper. In the mid-1990s, the agency turned over much of its work on the shuttle to private contractors. The head of the biggest NASA contractor has warned Congress about the threat of constant cuts, but he told ABC News today, his company has never compromised safety.
MICHAEL MCCULLEY, COO, UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE
No, absolutely not. I worry about the budget because I worry about human space flight for years and years to come. I don't worry about the budget because of a space flight that's coming up next month.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Voice Over) So far there has been no evidence that budget cuts had anything to do with Columbia's breakup over Texas eight days ago. But as the US contemplates its return to space after another shuttle disaster, the politicians will be forced to answer the same question again, at what price and what cost? Jeffrey Kofman, ABC News, Houston.
CAROLE SIMPSON
(Off Camera) Still ahead on "World News Tonight" this Sunday, meet the latest casualties in the battle for manufacturing jobs. A factory town facing shutdown.
CAROLE SIMPSON (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) As we prepare for war with Iraq, a look at nation-building in another country, part one of our series "Back to Afghanistan."
CAROLE SIMPSON (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) And why this remote stretch of desert may cost you millions. It's "Your Money."
graphics: ABC NEWS: World News Tonight Sunday
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