Customer Reviews

Columbia Accident Investigation Report: Apogee Books Space Series 39

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I just got through this book. It's actually a very easy and interesting read, not the technical document you'd expect. There is a lot of history about the Shuttle program as well as some excellent photos I haven't seen before.
Where this book excels over the government copy (which is about twice the price of this one)is that it includes the interview immediately after the review was released with Mr. Sean O'Keefe, so you get to hear his opinions also. (Not included in the Govt issue)
Also as usual where Apogee excels is with the bonus CD Rom. It contains the full 700 page Return To Flight documents which NASA has prepared recently as well as some great video from the STS 107 mission itself. I really agree with their advertising now that Apogee IS THE Space Book Company.

Although not cheap, this book offers a lot of value for the price. The bonus CD which includes many extra NASA documents as well as over 100 MB of video is also worth much of the purchase price.

The book is divided into two main parts. The first part discusses the technical investigation and the engineering analysis which determined the exact cause of failure. This was traced to a piece of insulating foam striking the right leading wing edge during the ascent, damaging the heat-resistant tiles and leading to a fatal thermal failure during reentry. In addition to the more narrow focus of finding the cause of the wing failure, you'll learn a lot of other interesting details about many other aspects of the shuttle design and engineering.

It's interesting to follow the chain of discovery and logic that led up to this conclusion about the wing failure, but the kicker was a sensor in the right wing that read a very high temperature before suddenly dropping to a suspiciously low one. This led investigators to conclude that the low temperature simply meant that the sensor had been destroyed by high heat moments before the Shuttle broke apart, but this interpretation wasn't arrived at until after the investigation. Even if they'd known at the time, there wasn't much that could have been done about it.

The book is surprisingly well illustrated with many color graphics, illustrations, and photos. The thermal diagrams showing the temperature variations in various colors are almost works of art by themselves. Although there's some technical jargon in the first part, overall, the book isn't difficult to read with a little perseverance, even if you're not technically inclined or an engineer yourself.

The last half of the book discusses the organizational aspects and political environment of NASA on which the shuttle disaster is ultimately blamed. The book details the numerous missed opportunities, procedural failures, and beaurocratic screw-ups that let up to the final disaster. There's some good history here about NASA and about some of the leading scientists and engineers and managers who were involved with the agency during these years, which makes interesting reading just by itself.

Last but not least, the book is printed on very high quality, glossy paper which makes the colorful illustrations even more attractive. Far from being just another government study of another failed beaurocracy, this book should be read by any manager in big business, semi-governmental agency, or government department or agency for the valuable lessons that were learned.

I haven't actually read the Apogee edition, but I do have my own copy of the government edition, listened to the release press conference live, and again twice from the www.caib.us archive. I have burnt all the appendices and that one 203MB press briefing, so it's safe to say that I've read everything that's in the Apogee edition, even if not in the same set of covers.

Most of what's in the first part will go over most peoples' heads. The second part "Part II" has the gold. Part II shows exactly what political dynamics prevented the foam problem from being addressed, how well-intentioned culture and internal politics can break down. I've worked for many companies, and what I saw in Part II of the CAIB Report is by far the best, yet it still killed fourteen astronauts.

Anybody who runs his own business, is a supervisor at one, a director, manager, leader or aspiring leader in any capacity should read Part II of the Columbia Accident Investigation Report.

A very in depth study of the mechanical and human caused disaster of the Columbia space shuttle. While very tedious and technical in terms, one must realize this is a report and not a "Book". NASA again caught up in the mindset that we have done this so many times that we have a full understanding of the ship and it's systems. Sadly a reminder of that same mindset that caused the Challenger to explode. This report should be required reading at NASA and it's contractors forever, and also required reading for anyone who wishes to honor the fourteen astronauts that gave their lives for the science of space.

This is a well written book. It's almost as well written as the 9/11 Commission Report, which is high praise indeed. The report reviews how NASA's prior 30 years lead to the current state of the organization. With that context, it goes on to describe the specifics of the Columbia accident. Next follows the sleuthing that lead to an understanding of the causes of the accident, including enough techincal details for an engineer to be satisfied by the description. Finally, the report reviews the organization and culture of NASA contributed to poor safety management and an unclear relationship between the stated, accepted, and desired risks in what is inevitably a risky endeavour. Each section can be read independently of the others, as if intended for either thorough digestion or quick skimming by a busy Congressman.

I boguht this book because I didn't want to sit in front of my computer and read the downloaded pdf file. I heard that this was less bulky as well as cheaper than the one from the government printing office. When I got it, I say why, the font is small. I wanted something comfortable to read. Also, the font is not a very high quality, the edges are jagged.