Word: columbia
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NASA is sweating out another chip in the heat-resistant tiles of a space shuttle, the kind of damage that doomed Columbia. This time it's Endeavour, which was hit by debris on its way to orbit. The wound is near a wheel well, a bad spot because it can provide access to the ship's innards. Shuttles have withstood worse, but no one will relax until the fiery ordeal of re-entry is done. [This article contains a diagram. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] Shuttle Endeavor...
...inner circle, more freewheeling communication, and more hard data collected on each launch on which to base decisions. Indeed, a scenario similar to the current one with Endeavour was more or less envisioned in the "Return to Flight" (RTF) report that was issued following the 2003 loss of Columbia and her crew, whose fates were sealed by a gouge in the more critical leading edge of the shuttle wing. The RTF report anticipated more tile shedding and potentially crippling damage; and as a last resort, the shuttle crew would abandon ship and be given safe haven aboard the international space...
This time, the buck stops with mission team chairman and shuttle program deputy manager Shannon, 42, a 19-year NASA veteran who served as deputy manager of NASA's Columbia task force in regular communication with the investigative board. Initial internal resistance to the new management structure noted by the RTF task force is gone, Hartsfield says. "I think it is embraced by everyone. It improves with each flight. The more you do it, the more it becomes the culture that we follow...
...various reports after the Columbia disaster also pointed out another NASA proclivity: that the agency has a history of allowing improvements to atrophy with time, and that vigilance would be required to insure that NASA would "do what is right, despite easier options that may present themselves." Would we even know before it's too late if NASA had relapsed? "I'll tell you people are very cognizant and those activities are very fresh on people's minds. I think now we have really started to ingrain a new culture of looking at problems and being open and I think...
...Jonathon Clark, husband of astronaut Laurel Clark, who lost her life aboard the Columbia, says the agency can't afford to make anything less than a well-thought-out decision. "This is the kind of rock-and-a-hard-place scenario that you're in," Clark told TIME. "Realistically, I think NASA's going to do the right thing. And the right thing may not necessarily result in a good outcome, but they really are trying to do their best. The world is hanging on to what's going to happen here...