The Columbia disaster

It seems as if the author of this article wants to side with the MMT and sort of point his finger at others for the  Columbia accident.The MMT were not able to catch any footage of the accident since the on board cameras did not capture any of the damage. Therefor the Debris Assessment Team (DAT) had been called in. The team had first requested for in orbit pictures of shuttle but were denied. The DAT then tried to use special algorithms to predict how bad the damage was but came out with no valid results. Then the DAT decided to use past occurrences as examples to try to predict what might happen. The Columbia had been hit five years earlier by similar debris and had suffered "significant damage."  The team however decided this was enough evidence to raise concern. 

The MMT held a teleconference with Don McCormack from DAT where they were to discuss the damage the debris had made on impact. The information was only brought up towards the end of the conference. Linda Ham, the MMT leader, had asked Don for an update on the damage. Don explained about the occurrence five years prior, and Linda simply replied with "And I really don't think there is much we can do so it's not really a factor during the flight because there is not much we can do about it." I think that was completely outrageous of her. The results weren't completely outright with the possibility of danger but the passengers lives were at stake and she completely blew it of like nothing. 

The article then goes on to discuss how it may be "too easy" to fault the MMT and that maybe there was somebody else at fault. The author writes it as if trying to push the blame from the MMT to somebody else. I think the MMT should be held completely liable, largely Linda Ham. If it were up to me she wouldn't have a job anymore. Men died because of her negligence. That is just unbelievable.