The Blog of Harald

The CAIB report released in August focused in general terms on the “broken safety culture” within NASA that ultimately led to both shuttle disasters. But according to the New York Times, the reality was even worse:

Dogged Engineer’s Effort to Assess Shuttle Damage

bq. New interviews and newly revealed e-mail sent during the fatal Columbia mission show that the engineers’ desire for outside help in getting a look at the shuttle’s wing was more intense and widespread than what was described in the Aug. 26 final report of the board investigating the Feb. 1 accident, which killed all seven astronauts aboard.

bq. The new information makes it clear that the failure to follow up on the request for outside imagery, the first step in discovering the damage and perhaps mounting a rescue effort, did not simply fall through bureaucratic cracks but was actively, even hotly resisted by mission managers.

Go read the full article; “Chicken Little” indeed…