Well this is a surprise – CNN is reporting that NASA will be releasing today the final report on the Columbia accident investigation today. This is not the what-caused-it report, but the what-happened-during analysis. Specifically, the report findings we saw concerned how the breakup progressed from initiation to completion and what can be learned to improve spacecraft design for crew survivability.
Not sure if they’ll give as much detail to the public as we got in a briefing back in January, but if so it’s both fascinating and gruesome. It’s simply amazing what the investigators have been able to piece together from very little information.
UPDATE: Keith Cowing has posted a ton of links to the report and related coverage. Since I’m not clear on whether the release of the report frees us from the embargo we signed up for as a condition of getting the briefing from the invedtigators, I’ll wait to comment on it until I get some clarification.
