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February
18, 2003
Institute
Professor Sheila E. Widnall, an expert in aerodynamics and
fluid mechanics, has been appointed to NASA’s Columbia
Accident Investigation Board. Widnall is a professor of
aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems within
MIT's Engineering Systems Division (ESD).
"When
someone asks you to do these types of things, the only answer
is yes," said Widnall, a former Secretary of the Air
Force, who will visit the Johnson Space Center in Houston
this week and plans to devote several days a week to the
investigation.
The
Columbia accident occurred during hypersonic re-entry into
the Earth’s atmosphere on Feb. 1 at an altitude and
velocity much higher than those flown by conventional aircraft.
Retired Admiral Harold W. Gehman, chair of the investigation,
said the board planned to add members with expertise in
high-altitude aerodynamics and heat transfer. Widnall taught
several courses in aerodynamics at MIT, including a graduate
course in hypersonic flow.
"Having
deep technical expertise is clearly important," said
Widnall. "But having technical expertise in one field
allows you to ask broader questions about other technical
fields."
As
Secretary of the Air Force from 1993-97, Widnall presided
over high-profile aircraft accident investigations, including
the crash of a CT-43 Boeing 737 carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary
Ron Brown in Croatia in 1996, the crash of an Airborne Warning
and Control System (AWACS) aircraft in Alaska in 1995 and
the shoot-down of two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters by
an F-15 aircraft over Iraq in 1994.
Widnall
is the first of three new members of the Columbia Accident
Investigation Board to be appointed with the goal of making
the board more independent of both NASA and the military.
NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe modified the board’s
charter in response to criticism expressed during a Congressional
hearing on Feb. 12.
"It
is extremely important that the board members are truly
independent," Widnall said.
Professor
Emeritus Eugene E. Covert, who served on the presidential
commission that investigated the space shuttle Challenger
accident in 1986, said: "I know Sheila very well. She
has a high level of integrity. She’s an independent
person who will state her mind and who will lend credibility
to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board."
During
her tenure as Secretary of the Air Force, Widnall initiated
the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program which
led to the development of the Atlas V and Delta IV expendable
space launch systems. Since returning to MIT, Widnall has
been involved in risk management and mission success of
space vehicles. She recently served as chair of the Independent
Mission Assurance Review Committee that studied the readiness
of the Boeing Delta IV launch vehicle for its first launch
in 2002.
Widnall
received the S.B. and S.M. (both in 1961) and Sc.D. (1964)
degrees in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and was the
first woman appointed to the engineering faculty in 1964.
She chaired the faculty in 1979 and was associate provost
in 1992-93. She was appointed the Abby Rockefeller Mauze
Professor of Aeronautics in 1986, named an Institute Professor
in 1998 after returning from Washington and named Professor
of Aeronuatics
and Astronautics and Engineering Systems with ESD in 1999.
Widnall is the first and only woman to head a branch of
the U.S. military.
MIT
alumnus James N. Hallock is also a member of the Columbia
Accident Investigation Board. Hallock, who earned the S.B.
(1963), S.M. (1969) and Ph.D. (1972) in physics, worked
on the development of the Apollo guidance computer at the
MIT Instrumentation Lab in the 1960s. Hallock is currently
division manager of the Aviation Safety Division at the
U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National
Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge.
Gehman
announced Widnall’s appointment on Feb. 15.
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