"Understanding The Columbia Shuttle Accident And Its Impact On The Future Of Human Space Flight"
On February 1, 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia broke
apart on re-entry over the plains of East Texas. The Columbia
Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), the official board of
inquiry into the disaster, determined that the physical cause of the
accident was a hole in the leading edge of the left wing of Columbia
caused by the impact of a ~ 0.76 kg piece of foam from the -Y
bipod foam ramp. However, in investigating the
organizational aspects of the accident, it became clear that NASA
management of the human space flight program had repeatedly ignored the
alarming input from its engineers in making decisions that compromised
safety, just as had happened in the Challenger Accident.
The board considered the human space flight program as one involving
considerable risk but not meeting any well defined national goal.
Now, almost three years after the disaster, the shuttle fleet is
again grounded, and NASA is committed to retiring the STS fleet by 2010
while it strives to replace it with two separate vehicles but with no
incremental funding. The speaker, as member of CAIB, will
discuss the investigation and the its implications on the future of
human spaceflight.