TV Program Description
Original PBS Broadcast Date: October 14, 2008
At the end of a nearly flawless 15-day mission in early 2003,
the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry
into Earth's atmosphere, killing the crew of seven. In this
documentary, NOVA probes the accident and the decisions
stretching back four decades that made the tragedy almost
inevitable.
The Columbia disaster, during the 113th shuttle
mission, was the beginning of the end for the space plane.
NASA responded by announcing the retirement of the shuttle in
2010, to be replaced by the Orion crew exploration vehicle as
part of the Constellation program, which is inspired partly by
an earlier generation of Apollo-style rocketry and spacecraft.
The decision to retire the space shuttle program is currently
under intense review, as it would leave the U.S. with a "space
gap" until the new Orion vehicle becomes ready around 2015.
Exploring the past and future of the shuttle through the lens
of the Columbia accident, NOVA interviews key NASA
personnel who witnessed problems with the space shuttle
program firsthand, including NASA engineer Rodney Rocha, who
tried to sound the alarm about Columbia's potentially
damaged condition; and flight director Leroy Cain, who worked
with controllers to make sense of a cascade of warning signals
from the craft during its ill-fated return to Earth. (Hear
Rodney Rocha
speak about the disaster.)
Rocha and others worried that a piece of foam that tore from
the shuttle's external propellant tank and struck the left
wing 81 seconds after liftoff could have damaged the craft,
making it vulnerable to the high heat generated during
reentry. But Rocha's superiors refused his request to try to
confirm possible damage.
Also interviewed are members of the Columbia Accident
Investigation Board (CAIB), NASA administrators, astronauts,
journalists, and prominent space-policy experts. (Read an
interview
with Scott Hubbard, a CAIB member, about the struggles he
faced in trying to get to the truth about the accident.)
The Columbia disaster was the second catastrophic
failure in the shuttle program. In 1986, the shuttle
Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch, also
killing seven.
NOVA shows that both accidents can be traced to design
trade-offs built into the shuttle concept. Apollo-era
spacecraft were designed with the cabin that holds the crew
positioned on top of the rocket, offering some protection from
falling debris and a chance of escape from a malfunctioning
vehicle. However, the crew- and cargo-carrying section of the
shuttle is so large that it has to be strapped to the side of
a huge external propellant tank.
In the case of Challenger, one of the Solid Rocket
Boosters developed a leak that ruptured the external tank,
immediately destroying the shuttle. For Columbia, a
piece of foam insulation covering the external tank fatally
damaged the leading edge of Columbia's left wing. (See
for yourself in
Force of Impact.) Neither scenario is likely with an Apollo-style design, in
which the manned spacecraft sits on top.
Both accidents were foreseen by engineers, who were then
ignored by NASA managers under pressure to meet launch
schedules and cut costs. Renowned during the heady days of
Apollo for its clear-eyed evaluation of risk and willingness
to do everything possible to reduce it, NASA, some experts
felt, had become complacent and bureaucratically rigid. Even
while the damaged Columbia was still in orbit, there
was a chance the crew could have been rescued by another
shuttle if only the true state of her condition had been known
(see
Rescue Scenarios). But that chance was tragically missed.
"Space Shuttle Disaster" is a penetrating look at the history
of the shuttle program and the political pressures that made
the shuttle a highly complex engineering compromise, which
fell short of its ambitious goal to make space travel routine,
cheap, and safe. The film brings to the forefront the
uncertain future of human spaceflight after the 2010 scheduled
shuttle retirement. Many questions remain, including what are
the consequences if the U.S. is out of orbit for five
years? (Explore
arguments
for continuing the shuttle program.)
Program Transcript
Program Credits
