Remember Columbia: NASA Returns To Space

In 3 days the shuttle Discovery will lift off from launch pad 39-B at Cape Kennedy, signifying NASA's return to space after a more than a 2 year hiatus after the Columbia tragedy of February 1, 2003.

As part of remembering that tragedy, I thought I would share a really great article entitled The Problem With Houston that eloquently describes the events that led to the disaster.

Although this article was initially published in Atlantic Monthly, it can be found online in two parts on the Guardian Unlimited website here:

Part 1: http://www.guardian.co.uk/columbia/story/0,12845,1120962,00.html
Part 2: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1119849,00.html

I strongly encourage you to read the above article as it details the failure of the NASA bureacracy to react to the concerns of a team of low-level engineers to the video of a large piece of foam hitting the left wing of Columbia on takeoff. It is a good illustration into the effect of organizational culture on good engineering judgement and analysis. It is now known that the foam could have caused a 16-inch hole in the leading edge tiles of Columbia's left wing.

Results from investigation of Columbia tragedy: http://www.npr.org/news/specials/shuttle/

Pictures of Columbia disaster: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,888237,00.html

See complete coverage online of the launch of Discovery on July 13, 2005 at: http://www.nasa.gov/

Good night!

Dan