Graduate helps solve Columbia disaster mystery
Ripon College Days
TMCnet
______
After the 2003 space shuttle Columbia accident disappeared from national broadcasts, Ripon alum Tom Horvath was investigating the re-entry catastrophe.
For this effort, which led to the safe re-entry of the Discovery Return-to-Flight mission, he was recognized earlier this year with the Engineer of the Year Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Horvath, a 1984 graduate of the college, is an aerospace engineer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and recalls the sadness of the Columbia disaster.
All five of the shuttle's astronauts lost their lives.
The Monday following the accident, NASA assigned more than 100 engineers to figure out what had caused this travesty in order to remedy the problem and return America to space once again.
"Basically what I did was figure out the physical cause of this accident," Horvath says.
Apr 26, 2006
Ripon College Days
TMCnet
______
After the 2003 space shuttle Columbia accident disappeared from national broadcasts, Ripon alum Tom Horvath was investigating the re-entry catastrophe.
For this effort, which led to the safe re-entry of the Discovery Return-to-Flight mission, he was recognized earlier this year with the Engineer of the Year Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Horvath, a 1984 graduate of the college, is an aerospace engineer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and recalls the sadness of the Columbia disaster.
All five of the shuttle's astronauts lost their lives.
The Monday following the accident, NASA assigned more than 100 engineers to figure out what had caused this travesty in order to remedy the problem and return America to space once again.
"Basically what I did was figure out the physical cause of this accident," Horvath says.
Apr 26, 2006
