This pathfinder covers five American manned spacecraft accidents: the Apollo I fire in January of 1967, the crash of X-15 no. 3 in November of 1967, the near-loss of Apollo XIII in April of 1970, the destruction of Challenger in January of 1986, and the disintegration of Columbia in February of 2003. Biographies of the lost astronauts are listed at Astronaut Biographies. Risk and safety resources at the NASA HQ library are listed at Management of Safety and Technical Risks.

All items are available at the Headquarters Library, except as noted. NASA Headquarters employees and contractors: call (358-0172) or email Library@hq.nasa.gov for information on borrowing or in-library use of any of these items. Members of the public, contact your local library for the availability of these items. NASA Headquarters employees can request additional materials or research on this topic. The Library welcomes your comments or suggestions about this webpage.

Books

Avera, Randy. The Truth About Challenger. Good Hope, GA: Randolph Pub., 2002.

TL795.5 .A94 2003 BOOKSTACKS

 

Bergaust, Erik. Murder on Pad 34. New York, Putnam, 1968.

TL789.8.U6 A52 1968 BOOKSTACKS

 

Burgess, Colin, Kate Doolan, and Bert Vis. Fallen Astronauts. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2003.

TL789.85 .A1 B86 2003 BOOKSTACKS

 

Cabbage, Michael and William Harwood. Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia. New York: Free Press, 2004.

TL867 .C33 2004 BOOKSTACKS

 

Cooper, Henry S. F. Thirteen: The Flight that Failed. New York, Dial Press, 1972.

TL789.8.U6 C62 1973 BOOKSTACKS

 

Cortright, Edgar M. (ed.). Apollo Expeditions to the Moon. Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1975.

TL789.8.U6 A513 BOOKSTACKS

 

Dick, Steven J., and Roger D. Launius. Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of External Relations, History Division, 2005.

TL788.5 .C75 2006 BOOKSTACKS

 

Godwin, Robert (ed.). Apollo 13: The NASA Mission Reports. Burlington, Ont.: Apogee Books, 2000.

TL789.8.U6 A5448 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. X-15: The NASA Mission Reports, Incorporating Files from the USAF. Burlington, Ont.: Apogee Books, 2000.

TL789.8 .U6 X32 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Lovell, Jim, and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

TL789.8.U6 A5488 1994 BOOKSTACKS

 

Shayler, David. Disasters and Accidents in Manned Spaceflight. London; New York: Springer; Chichester, U.K.: Praxis Pub., 2000.

TL867 .S53 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Starbuck, William H., and Moshe Farjoun. Organization at the Limit: Lessons from the Columbia Disaster. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2005.

TL867 .O74 2005 PPM-STACKS

 

Thompson, Milton O. At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

TL789.8.U6 X578 1992 BOOKSTACKS

 

Tompkins, Phillip K. Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: The Decline of the Space Program: A Study in Organizational Communication. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Pub. Co., 2005.

TL867 .T65 2004 BOOKSTACKS

 

Vaughan, Diane. The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

TL867 .C467 1996 BOOKSTACKS

NASA Reports and Congressional Reports and Hearings

Apollo 13 Review Board. Report of Apollo 13 Review Board. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1970.

TL789.8.U6 A59 BOOKSTACKS

 

Manned Spacecraft Center. Mission Evaluation Team. Apollo 13 Mission Report. Houston, TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Manned Spacecraft Center, 1970.

TL789.8.U6 A54 1970 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. Apollo Program Office. Status of Actions Taken on Recommendations of the Apollo 204 Accident Review Board. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1968.

KF24.8 .A1 FY 1969 V. 7 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report. Arlington, VA: Columbia Accident Investigation Board; Washington, D.C.: Distributed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2003

TL795.5 .C65 2003 BOOKSTACKS Note: Ready reference also has a copy. This report is often called the Gehman Report, as the chairman of the CAIB was Adm. Harold W. Gehman.

 

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Astronautics. The Apollo 13 Accident: Hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-first Congress, second session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1970.

KF24.8 .A1 FY 1971 V. 7 and KF27 .S36 A76 1970 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Subcommittee on NASA Oversight. Investigation into Apollo 204 Accident: Hearings before the Subcommittee on NASA Oversight of the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, first session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1967.

KF24.8 .A1 FY 1968 V. 11 and TL789.8.U6 A5945 1967 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Response to House Committee Recommendations on the Challenger Accident. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1987

TL867 .R47 1987 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences. Apollo 13 Mission: Hearing before the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, United States Senate, Ninety-first Congress, second session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1970.

KF26 .A47 A66 1970 and KF24.8 .A1 FY 1971 V. 5 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Apollo 13 Mission Review. Hearing before the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, United States Senate, Ninety-first Congress, second session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1970.

KF26 .A47 A65 1970 and KF24.8 .A1 FY 1971 V. 5 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Apollo Accident: Hearings Before the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, first session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1967-1968.

KF24.8 .A1 FY 1968 V. 7 and KF26 .A47 1967/1968 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Apollo 204 Accident: Report of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences with Additional Views. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1968.

KF26 .A47 1967/1968 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space. Space Shuttle Accident: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, second session, on space shuttle accident and the Rogers Commission report, February 18, June 10, and 17, 1986. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1986.

KF24.8 .A1 FY 1987 V. 3 BOOKSTACKS

 

__________. Space Shuttle Columbia Investigation: Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, May 14, 2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 2006.

KF26 .C69 C65 2006 BOOKSTACKS

 

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Diaz Team. A Renewed Commitment to Excellence: An Assessment of the NASA-wide Applicability of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report. Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2004.

TL795.5 .C662 2004 BOOKSTACKS Note: This report is often called the Diaz report, after the leader of its writing team.

 

__________. One NASA Team. The Implementation of the NASA Agency-wide Application of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report: Our Renewed Commitment to Excellence. Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2004.

TL795.5 .C663 2004 BOOKSTACKS Note: This report is also called the One NASA Team Report.

 

__________. Return to Flight Task Group. Final Report of the Return to Flight Task Group: Assessing the Implementation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Return-to-flight Recommendations. Washington, D.C.: Return to Flight Task Group, 2005

TL795.5 .C66 F56 2005 BOOKSTACKS Note: Ready reference also has a copy.

 

United States. Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Proceedings before Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident: Official Transcript. Washington, D.C.: The Commission, 1986.

TL867 .U58 1986 BOOKSTACKS Note: HQ library is missing several parts of this fourteen-part title. Please ask a member of the staff for assistance. This commission is often called the Rogers Commission, as its chairman was William Rogers, a former Attorney General and Secretary of State.

 

__________. Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Washington, D.C.: The Commission, 1986.

TL867 .U55 1986 BOOKSTACKS Note: Ready reference also has a copy.

 

__________. Status of Actions to Implement the Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1987.

TL867 .A27 1987 BOOKSTACKS

Internet Resources

Dunbar, Brian. People and Places: Michael Adams: Remembering a Fallen Hero. 30 July 2004 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/X-Press/stories/2004/073004/ppl_adams.html

 

Garber, Steve. Apollo-1 (204). 4 Aug. 2006 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/ This is the History Office gateway to NASA Internet resources relating to Apollo I.

 

__________. Apollo 13 Review Board (Cortright Commission). 1 Oct. 2002 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://history.nasa.gov/ap13rb/ap13index.htm

 

__________. The Apollo Program. 1 July 2005 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/apollo.html

 

__________. Challenger STS 51-L Accident. 6 Jan. 2006 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html This is the History Office gateway to NASA Internet resources relating to the destruction of Challenger.

 

__________. Columbia. 28 Jan. 2004. [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://history.nasa.gov/columbia/index.html This is the History Office gateway to NASA Internet resources relating to the disintegration of Columbia.

 

__________. Detailed Chronology of Events Surrounding the Apollo 13 Accident. 24 Jan. 2006 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://history.nasa.gov/Timeline/apollo13chron.html

 

__________. X-15 Biographies: Michael J. Adams. 24 April 2001 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://history.nasa.gov/x15/adams.html

 

Grinter, Kay. Apollo 13. 5 April 2002 [cited 11 Jan. 2007]

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.htm