Fallen astronaut's husband wants answers

(4/04/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- There's new information and some strong allegations by the husband of a NASA astronaut who died in the Columbia tragedy. Documents show someone stole her wedding ring after her body was recovered by NASA.

Dr. Jonathan Clark says doesn't want anyone punished. He just wants answers. He wants to know what happened to the jewelry worn by his astronaut wife when she died.

Astronaut Laurel Clark wore her wedding ring around her neck while orbiting in space. It's a ring that NASA said was found on her hand following the disintegration of Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003. But it never was returned to her husband.

"If they could lose pieces that were that important, what other things could they have lost," said Dr. Clark. "I was very emotional at the time. I was very, very upset."

Clark was told it had been stolen. He says a piece of one of his wife's earrings found on her body also mysteriously disappeared.

"I wanted it. I really wanted it," he told us. "I said 'I don't care how we get it back or what happens, but I really want that back'."

More disturbing, Clark says, were the actions of NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb, who he went to asking for an investigation.

According to a report by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, Cobb tried to keep the information about the jewelry's disappearance from being publicized.

According to the report, Cobb did so "...with the intent of ensuring NASA would not be embarrassed." It was already enduring intense criticism over the loss of Columbia.

Clark says he was approached by Texas Rangers, who about a year and a half after the Columbia catastrophe, wanted to issue a Crime Stoppers alert, hoping they could find out whoever took the jewelry.

But Clark says Cobb told him that would just make NASA look bad. The report also quotes an unidentified NASA employee, who told investigators that Cobb said "Can you believe how embarrassing that would have looked for the agency if that Crime Stoppers report went out?"

Clark says it's that alleged cover up that bothers him most. He now wonders if he'll ever see his wife's ring again.

"I think it was just an unfortunate series of events that it probably got lost," he said. "I think probably its in some landfill somewhere."

Repeated calls for comment from Robert Cobb and NASA's Office of Inspector General have not been returned.

The report called for Cobb's removal based on other issues which they concluded lead to an abuse of authority and created a hostile work environment. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, though, refused to terminate Cobb, saying instead that action had been taken to address the issues mentioned in the report.

We're hearing now that the House Science Committee may launch its own investigation into this matter.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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