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Unfortunately the management culture at NASA, something Richard Feynman also criticized, did not change. This lead to managers ignoring engineers' warnings abou

Unfortunately the management culture at NASA, something Richard Feynman also criticized, did not change. This lead to managers ignoring engineers' warnings about the foam strikes on Columbia, and also rejecting requests for high resolution images. Linda Ham, the manager who rejected these requests left the space shuttle program after the Columbia disaster and was moved to other positions at NASA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ham#Columbia_disaster_and_investigation_report https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ham#Columbia_disaster_an...

maxxxxx 8y ago
"and also rejecting requests for high resolution images." That's a decision I don't understand. Would taking the pictures have been a big change in flight plan or something like that?
- foobarbecue 8y ago
  The issue had to do with the fact that that shuttle mission was doing some classified stuff for the military IIRC.
- NikolaeVarius 8y ago
  Military stuff. Secondly, there was a strong prevalence of the idea that, even IF they had found something, nothing could have really been done, which was probably true according to the post-mortem.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    "even IF they had found something, nothing could have really been done, which was probably true according to the post-mortem." That would be a pretty weak excuse and only applicable in hindsight. I have read that depending on the size of the damage they could potentially have changed the descent profile to put more load on the other wing. To decide this you first need the data.
    - dgritsko 8y ago
      A fascinating article was posted a few years ago outlining the possibility of scrambling the Atlantis orbiter while Columbia was in orbit and performing a rescue of her crew. It was a fascinating "what-if", well worth your time: https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-audacious-rescue-plan-that-might-have-saved-space-shuttle-columbia/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-audacious-rescue...
    - heyjudy 8y ago
      Back-rationalization. Definitely weak sauce and lacking in accountability.
  - hoorayimhelping 8y ago
    John Glenn had something similar happen on his orbital flight, and his reaction (since he survived to hear about it) was outrage. He said even if there was nothing he could do, he wanted to know what was going on in case there was a communication issue. Either way, I'm highly dubious that some of the world's most competent scientists, engineers and military people couldn't work this problem and find a solution. NASA finding damage and having a few days to figure out how to fix it sets the stage for another Finest Hour. Instead, we have tragedy and disgrace.
mannykannot 8y ago
The second flight after the Challenger crash came literally within inches of ending up the same way as Columbia's last mission, as a loose-foam impact dislodged an insulating tile from the underside of the nose, which fortunately was at a point backed by a relatively thick steel mounting bracket for an antenna. https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts119/090327sts27/ https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts119/090327sts27/ As with the final Columbia mission, attempts to study the damage were thwarted (though in this case on specious security grounds, as this was a military mission.)
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maxxxxx 8y ago

"and also rejecting requests for high resolution images." That's a decision I don't understand. Would taking the pictures have been a big change in flight plan or something like that?

foobarbecue 8y ago
The issue had to do with the fact that that shuttle mission was doing some classified stuff for the military IIRC.
NikolaeVarius 8y ago
Military stuff. Secondly, there was a strong prevalence of the idea that, even IF they had found something, nothing could have really been done, which was probably true according to the post-mortem.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  "even IF they had found something, nothing could have really been done, which was probably true according to the post-mortem." That would be a pretty weak excuse and only applicable in hindsight. I have read that depending on the size of the damage they could potentially have changed the descent profile to put more load on the other wing. To decide this you first need the data.
  - dgritsko 8y ago
    A fascinating article was posted a few years ago outlining the possibility of scrambling the Atlantis orbiter while Columbia was in orbit and performing a rescue of her crew. It was a fascinating "what-if", well worth your time: https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-audacious-rescue-plan-that-might-have-saved-space-shuttle-columbia/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-audacious-rescue...
  - heyjudy 8y ago
    Back-rationalization. Definitely weak sauce and lacking in accountability.
- hoorayimhelping 8y ago
  John Glenn had something similar happen on his orbital flight, and his reaction (since he survived to hear about it) was outrage. He said even if there was nothing he could do, he wanted to know what was going on in case there was a communication issue. Either way, I'm highly dubious that some of the world's most competent scientists, engineers and military people couldn't work this problem and find a solution. NASA finding damage and having a few days to figure out how to fix it sets the stage for another Finest Hour. Instead, we have tragedy and disgrace.

mannykannot 8y ago

The second flight after the Challenger crash came literally within inches of ending up the same way as Columbia's last mission, as a loose-foam impact dislodged an insulating tile from the underside of the nose, which fortunately was at a point backed by a relatively thick steel mounting bracket for an antenna. https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts119/090327sts27/ https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts119/090327sts27/ As with the final Columbia mission, attempts to study the damage were thwarted (though in this case on specious security grounds, as this was a military mission.)

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