Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

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February 1, 2013 marked the ten year anniversary of the shuttle Columbia disaster that took the lives of seven crew members. President Obama issued a statement recently marking the anniversary. "Ten years ago, seven brave astronauts gave their lives in the name of exploration when America's first flight-ready space shuttle, Columbia, failed to return safely to Earth” (USA Today). On this day ten years ago several hundred people anxiously gathered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the landing of space shuttle Columbia following 16 days in space; however the craft and its crew never arrived. What could NASA have done differently to prevent the disaster? The life of an astronaut is characterized by successful flights. We will look at what went wrong, and what NASA could have done differently to prevent the disaster. The disaster physically occurred due to a piece of foam that fell from the external rocket tank during the launch. The piece of foam opened a hole in a shuttle wing causing the craft to break apart as it re-entered the atmosphere and the spacecraft shattered and rained down across Hemphill, Texas. There however seemed to be a much bigger issue related to the disaster. While no one can argue that this space shuttle launch did physically fail, we also can determine that this disaster was a result of a series of faulty decisions made by people in key positions and groupthink. The accident investigation spread blame, citing management and organizational deficiencies. Organizational issues were identified, and over the course of several decades they led to two disasters. Some of the factors that contributed and lead up to the Columbia disaster that we will focus on, were the intense time schedule pressures, the uncertainties of those who were involved, an unethical company culture and down played safety and technological concerns. According

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