During the
Senate hearing just concluded on (among others) Rep. Brindenstine's nomination as NASA administrator, Sen. Nelson made what I believe to be a garbled reference to the Challenger accident. Bashing Brindenstine's non-technical background, he said that the last time NASA lost a crew it was under the leadership of a non-technical administrator. So far, so accurate:
Columbia was lost while accountant Sean O'Keefe was running NASA. But Nelson then went on to talk about James Beggs, who was NASA administrator in the early and mid-1980s. Sometime before the loss of Columbia, in what was described as a temporary move, Beggs stepped aside to defend himself against corruption charges related to an early position he had held at a defense contractor (and not only was eventually acquitted but received an apology from the government).
The point is that on the day of Challenger's fatal launch, Beggs was technically the administrator, but William Graham was acting administrator.
Nelson claimed that Beggs, being aware of the low temperatures at the Cape, called NASA and begged it to cancel the launch. Is that true?
It's odd that Nelson would get his facts wrong on this, since the Challenger accident followed his own Shuttle flight so closely. I'd have thought the events of the time would be very clear in his mind, especially since his mistake only muddies his claim that non-technical NASA leadership is dangerous.
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