Columbia Shuttle Crew Not Told of Possible Problem With Reentry

[deathrind]

7. It...

...has been known for a long time that mission control did not tell the crew because they simply did not know if there was even a problem or not. All they knew was that something (thought to be a piece of foam which it was) came off the main tank and impacted on the leading edge of the wing the real infuriating part is this.

"It was agonizing for Rocha, who had begged the Mission Management Team to ask the Department of Defense to use whatever it had to take high resolution photos. He was turned down. In an exclusive interview with ABC News in 2003 he detailed how his requests were repeatedly denied.

"I made a phone call to the manager of the shuttle engineering office, the same person that had relayed the 'No" message to me from orbiter management. I was still pretty agitated and upset. Had he spoken to our engineering director about this? I wanted the director of JSC engineering to be informed. Had he been informed? And he said no. I was thunderstruck and astonished again."