Abstract
The US will have its work cut out getting its manned-spaceflight programme back on track, following a report by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board that described NASA's safety culture as “reactive, complacent, and dominated by unjustified optimism”. The board, formed in the wake of the space-shuttle disaster in February, confirmed that the accident was caused by chunks of insulation from Columbia's external fuel tank tearing a 6 inch hole in the shuttle's left wing. But the report said that NASA's organizational culture was as much to blame for the accident as the foam, noting that agency officials did not believe it was worth inspecting the damage in orbit because such incidents had happened on previous flights.
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