Foam Gluing Flaw Killed Columbia Astronauts

Freshly Exhumed writes "Now it can be told: NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board has blamed the faulty application of insulating foam for the loss of the Columbia orbiter. From the chief engineer for the external tanks project: '...NASA concluded after extensive testing that the process of applying some sections of foam by hand with spray guns was at fault.' And further: 'It was not the fault of the guys on the floor; they were just doing the process we gave them'."

Comments

Re:Heroes

[Lucky Tony]

Has N.A.S.A found another seven astronauts for the 2005 launch yet? Because they Need Another Seven Astronauts (NASA).

Right case, wrong circumstance.

[aussersterne]

But these people actually were heroes, like all early explorers who venture out into the great and deadly unknown (be it land, ocean, or space, depending on era and context) in the interest of making a better life for their fellow beings. Every astronaut takes his/her life into her hands as a matter of course just to better lives for everyone else, just like firefighters or police officers. Not just that, but astronauts do something fantastic and inspiring and educational that kids can really look up to without their parents being particularly down on it.

The people who are decidedly not heroes include:

- Sports figures
- Politicians
- The 3k or so people who died on September 11th

I'm also not set on calling the military "heroes" simply because their job danger comes from the fact that they are actively engaged to kill others, i.e. they're in the business of kill-or-get-killed and they know it; they're not out there trying to do something peaceful to better humanity, they're just violent mercenaries for whatever state they happen to have been born into.

But your point is well-taken: a lot of people call just about any corpose a "hero" anymore, and it's a bit silly.

Re:Core Problem: Lack of Competition in Space

[KingV]

I think that the Russians generally use lower tech equipment because they lack the money, know-how, and facilities to build state of the art equipment, rather than a simpler is better philosophy.