WHATEVER went wrong with the shuttle, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board will have to probe deeper than the design of the craft’s foam insulation and thermal tiles. As with the Challenger investigation 17 years ago, it is becoming clearer by the day that NASA was having problems with the way serious concerns were – or were not – analysed and communicated during the mission.
At first, the evidence was limited to a few emails expressing one NASA engineer’s concerns. But events took a dramatic turn last week when the agency released a flurry of emails in response to journalists’ freedom-of-information requests. The…
