A Cold Soak, a Plume, a Fireball

Some of the faces seemed out of a distant past. William Rogers, the New York City lawyer and former Secretary of State who had lost Washington turf battles to Henry Kissinger in the Nixon Administration. Neil Armstrong, who had taken "one giant leap for mankind" on the moon in 1969. Richard Feynman, the Caltech physicist who won his Nobel Prize 20 years ago. Others were fresher, including Astronaut Sally Ride, who in 1983 became the first American woman in space. They and nine other experts were appointed last week to a presidential commission charged with finding out why the space shuttle...