Linda Ham

Linda Ham was the program integration manager in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Shuttle Program Office. In this position, she chaired the mission management team for the 2003 Space Shuttle "Columbia" mission STS-107 that ended with the catastrophic destruction of "Columbia" upon its planned reentry into the earth's atmosphere. As a NASA manager, Ham was a U.S. government (public) employee.

Ham's actions and decisions, along with those of several other senior NASA managers involved in mission STS-107, were discussed repeatedly in the official Columbia Accident Investigation Board report, often in the context of management actions, practices, or culture that contributed to the disaster; however, neither she nor anyone else was individually blamed in the report for the deaths of the seven "Columbia" astronauts. After the report's release, Ham was demoted and transferred out of her management position in the space shuttle program.

Early career

Born as Linda Hautzinger, Linda Ham grew up outside Kenosha, Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Parkside in 1982 with degrees in mathematics and applied science. Soon after graduation, at twenty-one years old, she applied to and was hired by NASA. [Cabbage, "Ex-flight boss"]

Ham's first position at NASA was as a propulsion systems monitor at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This was a "back room" position where she offered real-time specialist advice and support to the Propulsion Engineer, a flight controller in Mission Control. She was soon promoted to a position in Mission Control itself. In 1990, she married U.S. Navy and NASA pilot Kenneth Ham, with whom she had two sons, Ryan and Randy. (This was Linda's second marriage though she had no children from the first marriage.) Later, as director of her section of flight controllers, she became the first female section director in the center's history. As one of her superiors, Ron Dittemore, later commented, "she had so much talent and her intellect was so strong she could compete with the best in assessing the facts. She rose through the ranks fast at a young age because of her ability to assimilate information." [Cabbage, "Ex-flight boss"]

Flight director

In May 1991, Ham became NASA's first female flight director. The first mission she worked was STS-45, which launched on March 24, 1992. During her first three missions, all of which took place in 1992, she was assigned to the "Orbit 3" shift, later known as "Planning," a quieter shift which generally coincides with the space shuttle crew's sleep cycle. ["1992 JSC news releases"] For STS-58, launched October 18, 1993, she moved up to lead flight director. Ham applied for astronaut training herself, but was refused because of issues with her eyesight. [Cabbage, "Ex-flight boss"]

Ham worked three missions in 1997 and 1998 as the ascent/entry flight director. One of these was STS-95, on which United States Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) flew as a payload specialist. A week after the flight landed, Ham was caricatured in a "Saturday Night Live" skit, which featured the deceased sports announcer Harry Caray as the host of a space and astronomy talk show. Portrayed by Joan Allen, Ham was asked how many survived the mission. [cite web
title = SNL Transcripts: Joan Allen: 11/14/98: Space: the Infinite Frontier
url = (blacklisted hyperlink removed)
accessdate = 2006-11-01 ]

In 1999, Ham again served as lead flight director, this time on the STS-103 mission. Launched on December 19, 1999, it was technically demanding, involving servicing the gyroscopes of the aging Hubble Space Telescope. "This flight will be a challenge," said Ham before launch, "I can assure you of that." [Carreau, "Astronauts to make emergency flight to fix Hubble Telescope"] Although challenging, the mission was a success, and all its objectives were met. ["STS-103, Mission Control Center Report #11".]

Manager

In 2000, Ham was promoted into a position in the Space Shuttle Program Office as a personal assistant to the shuttle program manager. In 2001, she became the shuttle program's integration manager, one of six senior managers responsible for shuttle program operations. [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 17] In this position, Ham chaired the mission management team (MMT) meetings that oversaw shuttle flights while in orbit and reported directly to the shuttle program manager, Ron Dittemore. [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 32; Cabbage, "Ex-flight boss".] At the time of the "Columbia" mission, Ham was also serving as acting manager of shuttle launch integration, which the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) would later call "a dual role promoting a conflict of interest." [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 200.]

"Columbia" disaster and investigation report

Mission STS-107, the 113th mission of the space shuttle program and the 28th flight of Space Shuttle "Columbia", lifted off January 16, 2003, from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 16-day, dedicated science mission. A large piece of insulating foam separated from the shuttle's external tank left bipod ramp area 82 seconds after launch and struck "Columbia" on the leading edge of the left wing. [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 34] Two days later, after reviewing film of the launch and detecting the foam impact on the left wing, NASA engineers made a request to Space Shuttle Program managers for an in-orbit, high-resolution image of the shuttle's left wing to check for damage. The shuttle program managers declined the engineers' request to image the shuttle's wing before reentry. [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 38] At 9:00:18 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 1, 2003, during reentry, "Columbia" disintegrated over Texas, killing all seven members of the shuttle's crew. [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 39] In total there were three requests for imagery of Columbia on-orbit during the 16 days mission, to search for potential damage on the wing, that were rejected, according to the same source. In addition, the Board identified 8 missed opportunities to determine the extent of the damage, that got no response from the mission management or no action was taken. The first of these was an inquiry on the day 4 of flight, by the chief engineer of Thermal Protection Systems, if the crew had been asked to inspect the damage, that never received an answer. The opinion of the program managers that the debris strike was only a maintenance-level concern was established early in the mission, making it increasingly difficult for concerned engineers to be heard by those with decision-making capacity. As mentioned in the Report: "In the face of Mission managers' low level of concern and desire to get on with the mission ... the engineers found themselves in the unusual position of having to prove that the situation was unsafe - a reversal of the usual requirement to prove that a situation is safe".

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board commissioned to investigate the disaster determined, in a report released August 26, 2003, that the physical cause of the destruction of "Columbia" was damage to the shuttle's left wing caused by the foam strike during launch. [CAIB, "Report of CAIB", Vol 1, p. 49] The board also determined that several organizational and human factors contributed to the disaster. These included:

It was in the context of these organizational factors that the CAIB discussed the role of decisions made by Linda Ham, as well as by other NASA managers, in contributing to the disaster.

According to the book "Comm check..." by Michael Cabbage, Linda Ham squelched requests for external photos to be taken after the requests had been sent by two individual departments at NASA. Engineers in these departments were concerned that the foam strike on the left wing, clearly captured by launch-day video recorded for every launch, had caused more damage than initially thought. Based on computer modeling later proven inadequate, Ham's belief was that the damage was not serious, and that if anything it would merely lengthen the time necessary to refurbish Columbia between missions. Referring to the supposed minor damage in a review meeting, she was quoted as saying that "...there's nothing we can do about it anyway." Ham decided to quash the request for high-resolution imaging of the shuttle, based on her belief that the damage was too minor to be of consequence.

It should be noted that Ham's on-the-job persona was reported to be somewhat brusque, and that she was perceived by some below her in the chain of command as being occasionally less than willing to embrace dissenting points of view. This was part of a larger cultural problem within NASA, which was addressed at length by the CAIB. It can be argued that Ham was the product of the organization in which she served. It can also be argued that even if high-resolution photos had shown Columbia's mortal wound, little could have been done to repair the spacecraft or save the lives of the astronauts. Even if the hole in the left wing had been discovered immediately, according to flight director LeRoy Cain, there were few if any realistic options to either circumvent the damage or launch a rescue mission. Nevertheless, Ham was subjected to intense criticism after the accident.

Aftermath of "Columbia" investigation

On July 3, 2003, NASA's new shuttle program manager, William Parsons, reassigned three senior engineers who had been involved in the "Columbia" disaster, including Linda Ham. NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe took the opportunity to praise Ham publicly, saying that the reassignment was "no reflection, in my judgment, on the competence or diligence or commitment or professionalism of anybody...." [Sawyer and Pianin, "3 Top Shuttle Managers Replaced".] According to the "Washington Post", "O'Keefe said she is so talented there is going to be a 'bidding war' for her among NASA facilities." ["Ibid."]

Ham's new position was as assistant to Frank Benz, director of engineering at the Johnson Space Center. However, she stayed in the job for less than six months. In December 2003, she took a temporary position on secondment from NASA at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, where she worked on federal plans for the storage and distribution of hydrogen fuel. [Cabbage, "Ex-flight boss".]

Linda Ham returned to the Johnson Space Center where she recently held the job as technical director for the Constellation Program Office where she was involved in the major decisions involvingthe Ares, Orion and Altair vehicles.

She divorced from Kenneth Ham, who later married Michelle Lucas of Hobart, Indiana.Fact|date=March 2008

References

Notes

Further reading

*cite book
last = Starbuck
first = William H. (Editor)
authorlink =
coauthors = Moshe Farjoun (Editor)
year = 2005
chapter =
title = Organization at the Limit : NASA and the Columbia Disaster
publisher = Blackwell Publishing
location =
id = ISBN 1-4051-3108-X

*cite book
last = Cabbage
first = Michael
authorlink =
coauthors = William Harwood
year = 2004
chapter =
title = Comm check...
publisher = Free Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-7432-6091-0

Web

*cite web
last = Bradshaw
first = Fred
coauthors =
date = June 18, 1998
url = http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/tester/archives/jun18/tst_a61898.html
title = Teachers, students track astronaut candidates
format =
work = dcmilitary.com
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Cabbage
first = Michael
coauthors =
date = February 1, 2004
url = http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/space/orl-sp-sscham020104,1,1571875.story
title = Ex-flight boss reflects on year of lessons
format =
work = Orlando Sentinel
accessdate = 2006-07-08- Long article on Ham with biographical information.
*cite web
last = Carreau
first = Mark
coauthors =
year =
date = March 11, 1999
url = http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/space/missions/sts-103/hubble/archive/990311.html
title = Astronauts to make emergency flight to fix Hubble Telescope
format =
work = Houston Chronicle
accessdate = 2006-08-24
*cite web
last = CBS/AP
first =
coauthors =
date = August 4, 2003
url = http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/30/tech/main565799.shtml
title = NASA's Columbia Conversations
format =
work = CBS News
accessdate = 2006-07-08-Article discussing NASA management and communication problems that contributed to "Columbia" disaster.
*cite web
last = Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB)
first =
coauthors =
year =
date = August, 2003
url = http://caib.nasa.gov/news/report/pdf/vol1/full/caib_report_volume1.pdf
title = Report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board
format =
work =
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Dunn
first = Marcia
coauthors =
year =
date = July 23, 2003
url = http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/04/tech/main566547.shtml
title = NASA Official Breaks Her Silence
format =
work = CBS News (cbsnews.com)
accessdate = 2006-07-08- Article about press conference/roundtable with Linda Ham, Phil Engelaug, and LeRoy Cain upon release of accident investigation report.
*cite web
last = Glanz
first = James
coauthors = John Schwartz
date = September 26, 2003
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/national/nationalspecial/26ENGI.html?ei=5070&en=faf53b0a1e959c49&ex=1152504000&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1152402427-0L0IuD3UvaCleYs96aMqAQ
title = Dogged Engineer's Effort to Assess Shuttle Damage
format =
work = New York Times
accessdate = 2006-07-08- Article discussing engineers futile efforts to ask NASA managers to look into possible damage to "Columbia" from falling foam during liftoff.
*cite web
last = Kelly
first = John
coauthors =
year =
date = 1999-2006
url = http://dev.space.com/missionlaunches/rtf_floridatoday_specialreport.html
title = Florida Today Special Report: NASA's Return to Shuttle Flight
format =
work = Florida Today (Imaginova Corp.)
accessdate = 2006-07-08- Eight chapter analysis of "Columbia" disaster.
*cite web
last = Kelly
first = John
coauthors =
year =
date = August 26, 2004
url = http://www.floridatoday.com/columbia/columbiastory2A10309A.htm
title = Confusion hinders photo effort: Three tries made to get spysat help
format =
work = Florida Today (Imaginova Corp.)
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Langewiesche
first = William
coauthors =
date = November, 2003
url = http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200311/langewiesche
title = Columbia's Last Flight
format =
work = The Atlantic Online
accessdate = 2006-07-08- "Atlantic Monthly Online" requires a subscription to access this in-depth article about the disaster. However, in the U.S., the article can usually be obtained at the local public library.
*cite web
last = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
first =
coauthors =
year = 1992
date =
url = http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/83144main_1992.pdf
title = 1992 JSC News Releases
format = PDF
work =
accessdate = 2006-08-24 col-2

*cite web
last= National Aeronautics and Space Administration
date = December 24, 1990
url = http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-103/news/sts-103-mcc-11.txt
title = STS-103 Mission Control Center Report #11
format =
work =
accessdate = 2006-08-26
*cite web
last = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
first =
coauthors =
year =
date = July 23, 2003
url = http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=9829
title = Transcript of NASA press conference/roundtable with Linda Hamm, Phil Engelauf, and LeRoy Cain (part 1)
format =
work = SpaceRef.com
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
first =
coauthors =
year =
date = July 22, 2003
url = http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/47228main_mmt_030124.pdf
title = Transcript of Mission Management Team Meeting, Friday, January 24, 2003, 8 a.m. CST, Hosted by Ms. Linda Ham
format =
work = NASA Facts
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = O'Brien
first = Miles
coauthors = Betty Nguyen
year =
date = July 25, 2005
url = http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/25/lt.03.html
title = CNN Live Today
format =
work = Cable News Network (CNN.com)
accessdate = 2006-07-08- Transcript of video interview with Linda Ham and others prior to Space Shuttle "Discovery" mission.
*cite web
last = Oberg
first = James
coauthors =
year =
date = 2006
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077552/
title = Post-Columbia NASA hunkers down: Officials’view of shortcomings is a bad omen for future clash
format =
work = MSNBC (MSNBC.MSN.com)
accessdate = 2006-07-08- Critical analysis of NASA managers involved in roundtable discussion with press on July 23, 2003.
*cite web
last = Reinert
first = Patty
coauthors = Mark Carreau
year =
date = September 4, 2003
url = http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/columbia/2081292.html
title = NASA probers on hot seat: Senators demand: Who's to blame?
format =
work = The Houston Chronicle
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Sawyer
first = Kathy
coauthors = Eric Pianin
year =
date = August 27, 2004
url = http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~meg3c/Columbia/culture.html
title = Report Blames Flawed NASA Culture for Tragedy: In Broad Indictment of Practices, Shuttle Panel Says Safety Suffered
format =
work = The Washington Post
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Sawyer
first = Kathy
coauthors = Eric Pianin
year =
date = July 3, 2003
url = http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=244526&
title = 3 Top Shuttle Managers Replaced: All Took Part in Key Decisions Leading Up to Columbia Disaster
format =
work = The Washington Post
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Smith
first = R. Jeffrey
coauthors =
year =
date = July 13, 2003
url = http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=244507&
title = Mistakes Of NASA toted up
format =
work = The Washington Post
accessdate = 2006-07-08
*cite web
last = Wald
first = Matthew L.
coauthors = John Schwartz
date = August 14, 2003
url = http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/nytimes_0803
title = Shuttle Inquiry Uncovers Flaws in Communication
format =
work = New York Times
accessdate = 2006-07-08