ABSTRACT
The disasters wrenching though they are, provide excellent opportunities for learning vitally important lessons how technical and professional communication occurs in complex and technologically sophisticated organizational contexts. The official report of the Columbia shuttle disaster shows that though the technical language used to present information was often thought of as definite and incontrovertible by many of those involved, in crucial instances it was actually rather indefinite and questionable. Important language difficulties involve even the shuttle itself—what it “is.” The shuttle was originally designed as an experimental craft for research and development that would lead to a later craft that would be fully operational. Flightworthiness, whether of a spacecraft or of an airliner, is supposedly a definite technical judgment determined by a large number of specific technical criteria. Ordinarily, it has an additional built-in safety factor. Ethical responsibility is both an individual and social or organizational burden.
