Documentary 2008 - Space Shuttle Disaster (Part 1/7)

At the end of a nearly flawless 15-day mission in early 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere, killing the crew of seven. In this documentary, we probe the accident and the decisions stretching back four decades that made the tragedy almost inevitable.

The Columbia disaster, during the 113th shuttle mission, was the beginning of the end for the space plane. NASA responded by announcing the retirement of the shuttle in 2010, to be replaced by the Orion crew exploration vehicle as part of the Constellation program, which is inspired partly by an earlier generation of Apollo-style rocketry and spacecraft. The decision to retire the space shuttle program is currently under intense review, as it would leave the U.S. with a "space gap" until the new Orion vehicle becomes ready around 2015.

Exploring the past and future of the shuttle through the lens of the Columbia accident, we interview key NASA personnel who witnessed problems with the space shuttle program firsthand, including NASA engineer Rodney Rocha, who tried to sound the alarm about Columbia's potentially damaged condition; and flight director Leroy Cain, who worked with controllers to make sense of a cascade of warning signals from the craft during its ill-fated return to Earth.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NASA
• Space
• Shuttle
• Disaster
• Columbia

[3bhui]

'Documentaries' today look like an hour-long commercial. Nothing is on the screen for more than about two seconds out of fear of losing the attention of the audience.

[lovelplants]

even though some of the space flight become disasters, it thus help NASA build a safer one.. but if robots were used before, i guess we could have less incidents..

[MrNewyork1975]

it was said they could have still been alive 2 minutes after the explosion and were killed on impact but who really knows ? challenger i mean BTW

[MrNewyork1975]

it was said they could have still been alive 2 minutes after the explosion and were killed on impact but who really knows ?

[IIIIandrew]

on the challenger shuttle the astronauts had time to switch on the oxygen in their space suits wich means they were alive for a few seconds it least.

[ImOfNope]

@TehKazangsta Yeah, probably. But we'll never know. Hopefully they went fast.

[TehKazangsta]

@ImOfNope "alive" maybe...., doubt they were conscious after that blast though

[ImOfNope]

@TehKazangsta That shuttle 'broke' apart, which means they were still alive when it was happening.

[ImOfNope]

Pretty good documentary of a tragic story.

[alexhamster1134]

@NumberOneCanadian who cares?