Essay about Columbia Accident Investigation Board Audience and Use

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, the space program was the center of attention in America, Russia, and much of the world. The race to the moon was like an epic blockbuster that the entire world was watching at once. By now, the American space program has lost much of its relevance in our lives and its status seems to continuously tarnish. Since the tragic events aboard the Challenger and Columbia missions, Americans are now reluctant to support an expanding space program. Our society no longer thinks the risk of lives to further our space programs is as relevant as it was in the 60’s and 70’s. In light of the tragedies, society largely believes that our country can function as a whole without NASA as a

Many critics believe that NASA and space exploration should not be the main focus of the government. However, NASA is not just about flying rockets and putting men into space. There is science and engineering that is being developed to push humanity forward in life. This space program is essential to answering philosophical questions, creating new technology for practical everyday use, the international collaboration with other countries, and the long-term survival of the human

On January 28th, 1986, Ronald Reagan used his stature as president to show sympathy for the country in the light of tragedy, in his speech entitled “Speech on the Challenger Disaster.” His main point expounds on the importance of the Challenger Disaster in the history of space exploration. He supports this claim by first explaining the effect the disaster had on the public, then offering his sympathy for the families of the astronauts as well as the entire nation, and finally declaring that the country must continue to explore space so the deaths of the astronauts were not in vain. Through Reagan’s use of rhetorical appeals, tone, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades the American people to maintain confidence in NASA and in space exploration,

In President Ronald Reagan’s speech, he addresses the situation that occurred between the space shuttle and the Challenger 7 crew at the State of Union. He helped the American public who were sad, confused and shocked about what was going on. The speech was meant to try and make people feel better and to strictly state that the space program will continue at NASA. The Challenger 7 were heroes and they did brilliant work at NASA due to their bravery and courage. In his speech, he used the tone of anguished, proud and uplifting in order to help comfort people to have faith in the American space program after this tragedy.

While many people support funding NASA and agree with the organization’s goals, there a good number of people who do not. A common reason for this is that they believe that the space program should focus on discovering things that can benefit us immediately, not in the future. This is a valid argument because there

Reagan then reassured that the space program would continue to operate and “what happened today does nothing to diminish it”. This message sought to protect the ongoing space programs and was dedicated to the last sub-audience of his speech: the NASA people. He acknowledged their hard work and expressed sympathy for their loss of friends and coworkers.

As President Eisenhower once stated, “Every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed” (qtd in DeGroot). According to Jerry DeGroot, a lecturer in the Department of Modern History at the University of St. Andrews and author of the widely acclaimed biography “Douglas Haig”, every year, the United States federal government funds the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with over $17 billion. When Keith Yost, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was asked about government funding on NASA, he replied, “NASA is not only spending money, but also the sweat of our laborers, the genius of our scientists, and the hopes of our children.” As a powerhouse in the work industry, NASA is taking away from the remainder of the country. Before venturing off into space, the US needs to realize the importance of tackling the issues that lie before the citizens here on Earth. As Richard Truly, a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, stated in agreement, “...I didn’t go to NASA for the United States to make international commitments that wouldn’t keep, to design space vehicles that will never be built (or will be then fail), or to make promises to the American people that will never be kept.” It would be in the best interest for the citizens of the United States federal government to cut NASA funding.

With the threat of Congress cutting NASA 's budget, the United State 's sixty year preeminence in space exploration is in serious peril..

It holds true that government organizations gradually decline; the enthusiasm is replaced with bureaucracy, employees are resistant to change and overall performance is decreased. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is no exception to this. NASA is an example of bureaucracy having a detrimental effect on an organization. The lines of communication became skewed and were often broken while the organization was locked in an internal battle over who exactly was in charge. While there were heads of each department and heads of each branch, critical information often slipped through the cracks. It was this breakdown in communication and the failure to address known issues that was the direct cause for both the Challenger and Columbia explosions. The explosions, though separated by seventeen years, were incredibly similar. Concerns had been brought to the table and similarly dismissed as “acceptable risk.” This acceptable risk proved fatal for the crews of both space shuttles. Bureaucracy and financial expediency led to reduced federal funding, general distrust from the public, and growing disinterest. The organization that sent men to the moon is vastly different than the organization in charge today. NASA’s beginnings were less clouded in red tape and bureaucratic policies. Ideas were

"Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.” Ronald Reagan described the five astronauts and two payload specialists who died in the Challenger explosion, about six hours after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its launch. Ronald Reagan’s Address to the Nation would be broadcasted on television and radio nationwide. In this speech, Reagan tells us that this is a day to remember and mourn the loss of the brave challenger crew. Reagan argues that we are pioneers on space travel, and while this is a tragic loss, we must continue to expand our knowledge of space and keep exploring the “Final Frontier.”

As discussed earlier, approximately 17 percent of Americans witnessed the explosion of the space shuttle on live broadcast and the rest soon learned about the tragic event through newspaper, radio or television. The whole country was in shock, grief and fear. That’s why Reagan chose to address to all of American people at the beginning of this speech “we share this pain with all of the people of our country” and “this is truly a national loss.”

Ronald Dittemore, manager of Shuttle Program, received reports directly from Wayne Hale (manager of Launch Integration) and Linda Ham (manager of Space Shuttle Program Integration). It is clear that decision about foam issue was made based on communication with Linda Ham, stating that in previous flights had no critical problems with foam. Dittemore did not attempt to receive a professional opinion from the engineers. Furthermore, Rocha sent an e-mail to Dittemore in order to determine whether Columbia’s crew could make a space walk to perform an inspection of the wing. Answer to this e-mail was never received suggesting that communication attempts directly from engineers to high-level managers were rejected. NASA is a complex organization that maintains strict reporting relationship. Information exchange is built on hierarchy and rules did not facilitate fast informal communication between employees and high-level management. This filtering process diminished the information flow to the key decision-makers. To solve this hierarchical structure managers like Dittemore should exaggerate their ambiguous threats, avoid status differences and build trust among employees. Managers ought to communicate with specialists in order to obtain reliable information and understand the situation.

Getting in a car accident is an unnerving thing. You never know what can happen and if your lucky you might see it coming. Well as often as these accidents occur, it happened to Spencer and I on one fateful summer evening.

According to Phys.org, twenty astronauts have died because of unsafe expeditions to space. These astronauts gave their lives for exploring space, and death is what they were rewarded with. “Why We shouldn’t Go To MARS” by Gregg Easterbrook explains why it is a waste of energy and time, for humans to travel into space. Likewise, the political Cartoon depicts how NASA uses an innumerable amount of money to send astronauts to space. Contrastingly, “Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center by JFK” by President John F. Kennedy, describes why the mission to Mars is an important one for humanity. As a result, each piece of evidence illustrates an opinion towards the controversial mission to Mars. Even though the opposition may disagree that the United States should be determined to explore Mars, humans should not go to Mars because it will endanger people’s lives and cost a myriad amount of money.

On 1st of February, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after finished a 16 days mission in space. All seven astronauts were dead because of this incident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had stopped the space shuttle program for more than two years to investigate this tragedy. In the 16 days period, the astronauts did approximately 80 experiments on different categories, for example, life science and material science [1]. An investigation later has found out that the disaster was caused by a problem on the day that took off on 16th of January.