2003 space-shuttle Columbia tragedy 3/6

The 2003 space-shuttle Columbia tragedy is explored through interviews with NASA engineer Rodney Rocha, flight director Leroy Cain, astronauts and Columbia Accident Investigation Board members. The episode also details the history of the shuttle program, including the design trade-offs that played roles in both the Columbia and Challenger disasters, and looks ahead to the future of the U.S. space program.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• space
• yuri
• gagarin
• usa
• shuttle
• mission
• mars
• moon
• armstrong
• neil

[methanbreather]

I feel bad for Leroy Cain. His job was to bring them down and he had no real chance to do so. What he must have felt?

[antimatterXXXIII]

Re 4:09 et seq - NASA is run like a corporation - you can see it in the behavior, identical dress and demeanor, the "droneness" of these people - these are not the "missile men" of the 60s, but corporate clones exactly like those who have poisoned the business world. It's this attitude of entrenched mediocrity at the base of all our problems - "let's pretend, let's ignore the truth, so I can keep my job".

[Erik0072]

@methanbreather when he realizes what had happened, and he put his hand over his face I really thought he was gonna lose it. God bless the crew, thier families, and mission control.

[theeviltwaz]

@methanbreather - devastated and guilty at the same time probably. He would have had some input in taking Rodney Rocha's concerns to MMT, but he would not have had any detailed knowledge about what was going on. He followed the correct procedure, by taking the concerns to MMT, who had the final call, but wasn't prepared to move outside of those channels to get anything done. This was just part of the unsafe NASA management culture that was in place..

[MrTheEvilgerman]

What the hell is a sexy mission ?

[Marty933]

After the Challenger accident, the Morton Thiokol managers and Nasa administrators who chose not to listen to the engineers saying that it was too dangerous to launch in such cold were promoted. Just like a corporation, really screw up and get rewarded for it.

[jazzguitar2010]

Judging acceptable foam impact was a dangerous strategy by NASA. "The foam keeps striking, but the shuttle keeps surviving," let's keep going. You need more certainty and less risk than that.

[Belgianmeth]

@methanbreather

When I watch the press conferences they gave the first day, Cain is eager to stress that everyone agreed the foam couldn't have damaged the wing. In reality managment overruled the engineers when they tried to investigate the damage.

His name seems fitting: "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Cain in Genesis)

[matrix49A]

@antimatterXXXIII True but accept this for now the Air force has always sent up a KC130 with high power optics on board to photograph satellites in orbit. If they did photograph the shuttle (which I believe) and gave NASA management the news of a big ass gaping hole in the wing which even the dumbest manager would know AS FATAL..... would they tell everyone?

[indiekid21]

Possibly a stupid question but America spends billions on space travel and research, so why don't they have various live camera feeds so they can actually SEE a shuttle re-enter? That way they would have seen it break up.

[antimatterXXXIII]

@gman586 Also as detailed in the posts above, the real engineers behind the scenes - not these middle managers at the consoles - were screaming for surveillance of the wing and were shot down three times at least by Ham, Dittemore, and Cain, who are exactly like the corporate know-nothings with whom I've worked on IT projects over the years. Absolutely no difference. NASA cannot be run like a corporation and achieve anything worthwhile.

[antimatterXXXIII]

@gman586 Of course not - but they make a special point of keeping up appearances in all aspects of their operation, and it has now corrupted their science too - claims of life from arsenic, drinking the cosmology Kool-Aid - everything about NASA has been shot through with PR maneuvers and spin just like any other for-profit corporation. Well the real NASA of the old days was completely opposed to this corporate mentality - which is why John Houboult could get his lunar landing ideas heard.