Truly Spoken: An admiral sets NASA straight

An admiral sets NASA straight

From the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded two months ago, NASA has hunkered down protectively, trying to justify its decision to launch the shuttle in spite of warnings from engineers about the cold weather. Last week NASA's new shuttle chief, Rear Admiral Richard Truly, took a refreshingly different stance. The agency had been wrong, Truly candidly conceded, on that fateful day. Before another mission blasts off, he vowed, NASA would reshape not just the shuttle's faulty booster rockets but also the process for deciding when to launch. Declared the admiral: "To defend the indefensible and pretend we didn't lose the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!