Lessons in Technical Communication

by Lee Vang

Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew

16 days
Departed: Jan 16, 2003
Returned: Feb 1, 2003
Disintegrated during
re-entry
All seven crew members
were lost

David Brown

Laurel Clark

Rick Husband

Michael Anderson

Kalpana Chawla

Ilan Ramon

William McCool

Columbias Final 16 Minutes

8:44 a.m. EST

8:48

8:52

8:56

9:00

debris shedding

Mission Control was unaware of

the loss of Columbia till 9:12

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

nearing CA coast

New Mexico

SE of Dallas, TX

NASAs Substitute for Technical Reports

Dr. Tuftes Critique

Conservatism in the title refers
to the choice of test model, not
to predicted damage
Significant ranges from
irrelevant to catastrophic
Levels of hierarchy is confusing
Important analysis assigned to
low-level (low-priority) bullets
Finally notes that debris is 640
times larger than test object

Lessons Learned
Practice the Basics

Concise/plain language
Organization of content and priority
Balancing text, visuals and whitespace
Ethics and responsibility to those affected
Typographical clarity (type, bold , italics, color, size)

Dr. Tufte: Serious problems require serious tools.

End of Presentation
The CAIB report can be viewed online at:
www.nasa.gov/columbia