# CNN documentary on the Columbia space shuttle disaster **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** documentary-bio\ **Created:** [April 15, 2024, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330 "2024-04-15T18:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/41 "2024-04-20T02:43:02Z")
I imagine that they did get cleaned up; what you were seeing was likely the accumulated damage and scarring from dozens of launches and re-entries, like in the photos below. [![](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/J5A8B6/heat-shield-tiles-nose-thrusters-and-emergency-exit-on-the-space-shuttle-J5A8B6.jpg) ](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/J5A8B6/heat-shield-tiles-nose-thrusters-and-emergency-exit-on-the-space-shuttle-J5A8B6.jpg) [![](https://images.pexels.com/photos/11470749/pexels-photo-11470749.jpeg) ](https://images.pexels.com/photos/11470749/pexels-photo-11470749.jpeg) [![](https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/120703gallery/03.jpg) ](https://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/120703gallery/03.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/42 "2024-04-20T04:09:56Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > One other person worth mentioning, who was not interviewed, was Phil Engelauf. He was sitting beside Ellen Ochoa and received the phone call about the shuttle breaking up. You can see the look on her fact when he tells her. Shortly after that he informs Leroy Cain, seen rocking on his heels, knowing what he has to do next. Phil Engelauf. Thanks for sharing the name. I did not know his name. Yes he and Ellen Ochoa were apparently the first in Mission Control to learn about the news reports showing Columbia disintegrating, and they’re the ones who inform flight director LeRoy Cain. As you say. In the documentary when they show that moment they refer to him as a former flight director, or a retired flight director. Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/43 "2024-04-20T04:15:03Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > If I remember correctly, the main corrective action was to improve the application of the foam, and the inspection after it was applied. The big problem was the adhesion of the foam to the tank - if there were areas that didn’t get “stuck down” very well, big chunks could peel off at launch. There was a particular area that was of major concern - the junction between the tank and one of the support arms. Didn’t they also remove the bipod? The foam losses seemed to be where the bipod (which connects the orbiter to the external tank (ET)), connects to the ET. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/44 "2024-04-20T04:17:24Z")
I’d have to look it up. But, that does sound right. I’ve been answering from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/45 "2024-04-20T04:18:04Z")
I found it. From here, [https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/114020main\_et\_bipod\_fs.pdf](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/114020main_et_bipod_fs.pdf) — “NASA redesigned the external tank’s forward bipod fitting after the Columbia disaster to reduce debris. The new design removes the insulating foam bipod ramps, allowing the tank to fly with the fittings mostly exposed.” ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/46 "2024-04-20T18:05:16Z")
Dianne Vaughan published “The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA” in 1996. This was a study of NASA management’s faulty risk decision process of the Shuttles O-Rings that led to the lost of Challenger in 1986. **Seventeen years later, the exact same management failure occurred with Columbia.** One of Vaughan’s concepts in her study was called “Normalization of Deviance”, whereby a workplace culture environment accepts “deviant acts” as normal and acceptable even though these acts are objectively wrong as defined by outside of the organization or even by internal definition. This happens over time for various reasons, but mainly because the deviations don’t immediately cause harm or loss. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330/47 "2024-04-20T18:37:49Z")
Where did I learn about it? On the SDMB, of course. The thread that is linked upthread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-documentary-on-the-columbia-space-shuttle-disaster/1000330.md?page=2)