Rogers Commission Report

The Rogers Commission Report was written by a Presidential Commission charged with investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster during its 10th mission, STS-51-L. The report, released and submitted to President Ronald Reagan on June 9, 1986, both determined the cause of the disaster that took place 73 seconds after liftoff, and urged NASA to improve and install new safety features on the shuttles and in its organizational handling of future missions. Commission members William P. Rogers, chairman and former United States Secretary of State (under Richard Nixon) and United States Attorney General (under Dwight Eisenhower) Neil Armstrong (vice-chairman), retired astronaut and first human to walk on the Moon (Apollo 11) David Campion Acheson, diplomat and son of former Secretary of State Dean Acheson Eugene E. Covert, aeronautics expert and former Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force Richard P. Feynman, theoretical physicist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics Robert B. Hotz, editor, Aviation Week and Space Technology Donald J. Kutyna, Air Force general with experience in ICBMs and shuttle management Sally K. Ride, engineer, astrophysicist and first female American astronaut in space, flew on Challenger as part of missions STS-7 and STS-41-G Robert W. Rummel, Trans World Airlines executive and aviation consultant to NASA Joseph F. Sutter, Boeing senior vice president and engineering program director on the Boeing 747 aircraft Arthur B. C. Walker, Jr, solar physicist and Stanford University professor Albert D. Wheelon, physicist and developer of Central Intelligence Agency's aerial surveillance program Charles E. (Chuck) Yeager, retired Air Force general and the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight Alton G. Keel, Jr., executive director of the commission Commission witnesses Day 1, February 6, 1986 Dr. William R. Graham, Acting Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jesse W. Moore, Associate Administrator for space flight, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and chairman, 51L Data Design and Analysis Test Task Force Arnold D. Aldrich, Manager, National space transportation systems program, Johnson Space Center Dr. Judson A. Lovingood, Deputy Manager, Shuttle Projects office, Marshall Space Flight Center Robert Sieck, Director of Shuttle operations, Kennedy Space Center Richard G. Smith, Director, Kennedy Space Center Thomas L.