In the News
Media Relies on Slack as Space Shuttle Expert

Mike Slack unexpectedly found himself in the role of media expert regarding the Shuttle Columbia tragedy on Feb. 1. A former senior aerospace engineer for NASA in Houston, Slack worked on the Shuttle program during the time Columbia was designed.

His expertise in aerospace design, plus his background in air crash litigation, enabled him to predict minutes after the disaster that the most significant debris related to the cause of the tragedy would be found west of the East Texas debris field. Days later, NASA announced that it was seeking debris from areas as far west as California, and in mid-February NASA sent investigators to look for debris in New Mexico.

In a Feb. 5 news release, Slack urged NASA to give the National Transportation Safety Board a more significant role in the investigation. “As a space agency, NASA does not have personnel trained to reconstruct air crashes from forensic evidence, while the NTSB has some of the world’s best experts in the aviation forensic sciences,”
Slack said.

His comments were carried on CNN “Headline News” and in The Washington Post, in addition to Austin TV and print media. See our Web site for details.