Shuttle Columbia: Who Dropped the Ball

Recently a set of NASA emails were released to the public, detailing the internal discussions among engineers and lower management about whether and how the possibly damaged spacecraft could suffer a catastrophic failure upon re-entry and landing. Interestingly, nobody in the media has picked up on the "smoking gun" buried within these emails, showing who made the fateful decision that ultimately doomed the craft and crew.

Here is the critical tidbit:

Translation: someone at NASA asked the USSTRAT (part of the military) to use a spy satellite to examine the suspected damage. Higher management had not approved that request, so Steve J. Stich told USSTRAT to cancel the request. Upon reflection (before the deaths of the crew), Mr. Stich was more concerned with looking like he "cried wolf" than whether lifesaving information might be obtained.

The upshot is that Steve J. Stich deliberately blocked the action which would have, in all likelyhood, revealed the serious damage which resulted in the loss of craft and crew. Why Mr. Stich has not been publicly called to account, by NASA nor by the media, for his actions is bewildering.

- Carl Donath