Applied Physics/Physics Colloquium

Professor Douglas D. Osheroff

Department of Physics

Stanford University

Understanding the Columbia Shuttle Accident

Doug Osheroff was a member of the board which investigated the Columbia shuttle accident, and whose mission it was to identify the causes of the accident. While it appeared that the physical cause of the accident was a piece of insulating foam that fell from the external fuel tank 82 seconds after launch, NASA repeatedly claimed that foam could not damage the RCC panels which formed the leading edges of the orbiter's wings. Ultimately the board were able to show that a large number of pieces of evidence all indicating that the destruction of the Columbia upon re-entry resulted from a hole in RCC panel number 8, precisely the panel which visual and aeronautical analysis suggested had been struck by the foam. Osheroff will describe what it was like to be a member of such an investigation having come in with absolutely no prior knowledge of NASA or accident investigations.