Jorge R. Frank wrote:

Fine, you *and* Derek want to evade the question of whether you really
consider this issue to be the "single most disturbing thing" you've heard
about Columbia. I'll ask the question in a different way: Do you really
consider the crew putting on their gloves late during entry to be more
disturbing than:

1) the fact that NASA knew about the ET foam shedding problem since 1981,
but never considered it important enough to ground the fleet to fix?

2) the fact that NASA never performed foam impact testing on the RCC before
deciding to live with the foam shedding problem?

3) the fact that, due to the lack of foam impact testing, the Debris
Assessment Team had to use a software tool to analyze a foam strike that
was far outside the database to which the tool was validated?

4) the fact that the MER manager's presentation of the Debris Assessment
Team's conclusions to the Mission Management Team systematically downplayed
all the team's uncertainties regarding the validity of said conclusions?

5) the fact that the MMT was unaware that three separate teams were
requesting imaging, and in cancelling one of them, inadvertently cancelled
all three?

6) the manner and extent to which the crew was notified of the foam strike?


Yes I do... and for the following simple reason: all of the above were
the results of bureaucratic bumbling and the desire to keep the mission
schedule moving forward in an undefended program... they could have
fixed the problems but it would have taken both time and money to
accomplish (a _lot_ of time and money to completely fix the shedding
foam ET problem...and we still don't know how to do that one.) but the
pressure suit problem could have been solved by the commander saying
"Sit the hell down, and put on your goddamned gloves! That's an order!".




a failure to go "by the book" at
every phase of the whole operaton....when mission rules state that you
should be fully suited up at X minutes before reentry, you should be
suited up by that time- not around that time.



I suppose you consider Schirra's failure to wear his helmet during Apollo
7's entry to be more disturbing than the Apollo 1 fire?


Schirra had a good reason not to want his helmet on...he didn't want to
puke into it, and possibly choke to death on his own vomit. Columbia's
crew just didn't get around to properly suiting up for reentry in
time....and that shows slackness on their part, and on the part of
Mission Control in allowing that situation to occur. It is reminiscent
of some of the screw-ups that plagued the Soviet/Russian space program;
although after Soyuz 11 I'll bet they are very careful to make sure that
all of their cosmonauts are fully pressure-suited before reentry...so
when did we get slacker than the Soviets? If mission rules say you do
it, you do it.

Pat