PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story at this hour, the Columbia tragedy. As the nation and the world honor the heroes and the investigation into the cause continues, Daryn Kagan is standing by at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She will have the very latest now on what went wrong. Good morning -- Daryn.</s>DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, good morning to you. Still, so much to try to figure out about what went wrong early on Saturday, but NASA is leaning in a particular position, in a particular direction, and that is that what happened was a thermal event, and not a structural malfunction. They know now that there were signs of trouble seven minutes before Columbia broke apart. The first sign from Columbia's left wheel well, where four temperature measurements went up 20 to 30 degrees over five minutes. And then one minute before the shuttle broke apart the flight control system was trying to compensate, and it commanded the shuttle to roll to the right. Soon after that, the shuttle was lost. NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was on just a little bit ago here on AMERICAN MORNING. He talked about how from the very beginning, their first priority is trying to ensure the shuttle is safe.</s>SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: No flight takes off unless there is a certification of every single issue that could possibly compromise safety of flight. And so, we guarantee that each and every time, and this flight was no different. There was no anomalies, no objections across the board, and as a result, all factors were run to ground and examined before we ever launched.</s>KAGAN: We learned so much for the news briefing that took place yesterday afternoon. The next one today, 11:30 a.m. Eastern, and then 4:30 p.m. Eastern. You'll see both of those live right here on CNN. Paula -- back to you.</s>ZAHN: Thanks, Daryn. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Columbia Probe Focuses on Thermal Malfunction