Today in Technology History
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February 3
All Americans are grieving the loss of the shuttle Columbia and her crew. We know that space missions are dangerous, but the very excellence of our space program has made success seem routine. Shuttle missions thus now go mostly unnoticed, and the courage of the crew of Columbia would likely have been unacknowledged if they had returned safely home. It is only in death that we remember they were heroes in our midst, some of the first daring scouts we sent off into the vast beyond.
Now, with days of mourning still before us, the investigations are already underway. Various government bodies, including NASA itself, are searching for the disaster's cause. They will find guidance in the only shuttle precedent: the investigation into the demise of Challenger.
On February 3, 1986 -- five days after Challenger was destroyed -- President Reagan appointed a commission to investigate the accident. Among the commission's members were astronauts Neil Armstrong (the first man on the Moon) and Sally Ride (the first American woman in space). The commission also included Chuck Yeager (the first pilot to break the sound barrier) and Richard Feynman (a Nobel-laureate physicist). The commission's chairman was William Rogers, a former U.S. Secretary of State and Attorney General.
The Rogers Commission, as it became known, uncovered not only the technical cause of the Challenger disaster, but also the serious management problems within NASA that allowed the accident to happen. The work of that commission set a standard for fairness and toughness that today's investigators know they must meet. Bill Readdy, a former astronaut and now a NASA administrator involved in the Columbia investigation, told reporters this afternoon that he has read the Rogers Commission report and keeps a copy of it in his office.
We hope for a thorough investigation, even as our hearts remain with the families of those brave souls we'll remember as the "Columbia Seven."
Related links:
Click here for the homepage NASA has set up for information related to the Columbia disaster.
Click here and here to read about President Reagan's decision to create a commission to investigate the Challenger accident.
Click here to read the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, also known as the "Rogers Commission Report."
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