These accidents have forced lockheed a serious reassessment of NASA

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This week is a gloomy for NASA, and the overall effort of space exploration. NASA has had three major accidents in its history, and all three were held at this time of year.
On 27 January 1967, three astronauts were lost in the fire of Apollo 1 during a launch rehearsal. lockheed The trigger of the fire was a short circuit in the seat of the astronauts. Because pure oxygen under pressure, the cabin blazes quickly, killing astronauts in less than thirty seconds. It was impossible to get out in time since the opening of the capsule system required a procedure that took more than two minutes.
January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated just 73 seconds after liftoff, killing lockheed all seven astronauts on board. It was colder than usual in the morning of the launch, and several engineers had expressed lockheed concerns about the effect of temperature on the performance of O-rings (called O-rings) as that would seal the joints propellants extra powder (the solid rocket boosters). The program decided to proceed with the launch. The cold has indeed affected an O-ring, causing a gas leak in a fire. Within seconds, the fire damaged the main tank of hydrogen, the structure gave way under the heat, the lower dome tank separates and aerodynamic forces deflect the trajectory of the shuttle, causing its destruction. lockheed Media coverage of the event was huge, largely because of the presence of Christa McAuliffe aboard the shuttle, teacher chosen by the project "Teacher in Space".
February 1, 2003, seven astronauts died when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated during its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The loss of Columbia is the result of damage sustained during launch. A piece of insulating foam came off the external tank of the shuttle and hit the left wing, damaging the thermal protection system that protects the shuttle from the extreme heat generated during re-entry. When Columbia was still in orbit, some engineers suspected damage, but NASA managers have limited the investigations, saying that little could be done, even if problems were discovered. During lockheed the re-entry of the STS-107, the damaged area allowed hot gases to enter the wing and quickly destroy its inner structure, resulting disintegration of the vehicle.
These accidents have forced lockheed a serious reassessment of NASA's corporate culture, and space exploration in general. Do the benefits outweigh lockheed the risks of loss of human life? Can we justify the monetary cost of sending humans into space? Perhaps the probes and robots are more useful, more efficient and cheaper than manned space flight. I personally 100% for human exploration. But that's a topic for another week.
Apollo 1 and Challenger took place before I was born, and despite the fact that I was in high school in 2003, I do not remember the loss of Columbia. But since I started looking seriously at the exploration of space, I have studied these accidents. Because it is the Columbia accident that woke in me that passion. I came across a picture of LeRoy Cain, flight director during the descent of Columbia, head in hands, clearly devastated by what had happened, and I needed to know more. I immediately devoted to research on the accident, the crew, the team of the control room ... everything. Then it was Challenger and the International Space Station, the Hubble telescope, the race to the moon ... the list continues. I seriously deprived of sleep for several weeks. Too much to learn! All that to say that this week marks anniversaries lot to me, even if I have not experienced the "live" accidents.
For the tenth anniversary of Columbia, Wayne Hale, a former flight director and manager p