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Columbia Accident Investigation Board Releases Final Report
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board presented its final report on the causes of the Feb. 1, 2003 Space Shuttle
accident to the White House, Congress and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The CAIB report concludes that while NASA's present Space Shuttle is not inherently unsafe, a number of mechanical
fixes are required to make the Shuttle safer in the short term. The report also concludes that NASA's management system
is unsafe to manage the shuttle system beyond the short term and that the agency does not have a strong safety culture.
The Board determined that physical and organizational causes played an equal role in the Columbia accident - that the
NASA organizational culture had as much to do with the accident as the foam that struck the Orbiter on ascent. The report
also notes other significant factors and observations that may help prevent the next accident.
