Shuttle Pilot’s Widow Attacks NASA Decisions

The widow of the shuttle Challenger’s pilot, Michael J. Smith, Monday said the report of the Rogers commission on the Jan. 28 tragedy “reflects incredibly terrible judgments” and “shockingly sparse concern for human life” by space agency officials.

The statement by Jane Jarrell Smith was the first extensive public reaction to the report from any of the families of the seven crew members killed when the shuttle was torn apart.

The report, based on a four-month investigation by the presidential commission headed by former Secretary of State William P. Rogers, “appeared to be thorough and accurate,” Smith said in a prepared statement. “We appreciate the excellent work done by Chairman Rogers, members of the commission and the commission staff.

“The report reflects incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life, instances of officials lacking the courage to exercise the responsibilities of their high office and some very bewildering thought processes,” she said.

The report, released June 9, concluded that the accident was caused by the failure of a joint of the shuttle’s solid rocket booster, a joint that was poorly designed and had inspired a series of warnings over the last eight years that officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the contractor, Morton Thiokol Inc., failed to heed.