Return to Flight: Fixing the Space Shuttle

In the skies over Texas, the space shuttle Columbia and the seven heroic astronauts on board fall helplessly to the earth in a shower of hot metal. In an instant, the powerful symbol of technological achievement and national pride is reduced to thousands of pieces of smoldering debris. And somewhere among the wreckage lies the uncertain future of human space exploration.

The independent board investigating the tragedy quickly zeroes in on a piece of foam debris that precipitated the disaster. But as they prepare to make their findings public, many larger questions remain unanswered: Is space exploration worth human life? Can the shuttle be made safe to fly again?

For NASA officials, astronauts, and engineers, and for the family members of the crew who lost their lives in the pursuit of science and progress, the answer is an unequivocal and resounding… “Yes.” And now, they plan to prove it.

Return To Flight follows the extraordinary journey from the moment the Columbia Accident Investigation Board issues its final report, to the “Go For Launch” command scheduled for the spring of 2004. This documentary takes the viewer step-by-step through the process as NASA’s elite Return to Flight task force and the agency’s dedicated men and women fiercely work to combine cutting-edge technology, ingenuity and sheer determination to ensure that the events of February 1, 2003 are never repeated.