Many of the people of Texas were not even aware that the Columbia was aloft when they heard an ominous roar coming from the west early that Saturday morning. Within minutes they began to have firsthand experiences, close encounters of an unwanted kind, with the Co- lumbia, as pieces of it rained down on their fields and streets and yards. Government investigators emphasized the need to report these findings, and to not disturb them. Collecting and analyzing this debris is one of the most important first steps in investigating space tragedies like the loss of the Columbia. Such investigations often involve thousands of people, cost tens of millions of dollars, and take months to complete because of the many challenges they face.

Finding the Root Cause

Space accident investigations look for both the immediate symptom or problem-the physical or mechanical event that touched off the disaster-and...