January 12, 2006
Nelson recalls shuttle he rode 20 years ago
Senator pushes for future work on Space Coast
BY JOHN KELLY, FLORIDA TODAY
CAPE CANAVERAL - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said he couldn't believe
it has been 20 years since he flew on the shuttle....
....."There's so many great memories, but I think mostly I remember
the professionalism of the finest launch team in the world,"
Nelson said. "Remember, we went through four scrubs before we
finally launched on the fifth try almost a month later. It was
just a flawless launch and mission."
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Nelson is generally considered a likable guy, and I've done
productive cooperation with his senate subcommittee --
but somebody should point out to him that the Rogers Commission
concluded that it was the grossly unprofessional judgment of the
launch team two weeks later that led to the loss of Challenger
and its crew. And the schedule pressure to launch -- fanned by
Nelson's flight (which but for his presence probably would have
been disbanded and reassigned once most of its major payloads
had been withdrawn in late 1985) -- facing the immovable
double planetary window in May, might suggest that the
presence of a high-visibility passenger on 61-A helped set
up (NOT cause) the crisis that followed. But that's all hindsight --
it DID look like a good idea at the time, and none of it is his fault.
NASA officials made the bad calls, and seven people died.