But there's more! In his book "What Do You Care What Other People Think: Further Adventures of a Curious Character", the last 100 pages tells the story of how he served on the investigation commission. There's lots of interesting stuff.
* the commission was a little politiziced, led by a lawyer who was very concerned that it should just synthesize the conclusions of other agencies' investigations, whereas Feynman (and some other members) wanted to take a much more active role.
* Feynman _really_ hated the committee culture of slow meetings which don't produce much.
* The final report was very bland and careful not to say anything that would make the government look bad. Feynman threatened to resign and make a scene in order to get his appendix published without (too many) edits.
* The actual cause of the accident, the too cold O-rings, was perhaps leaked to the commission by a NASA insider, in a subtle way.
The book was published posthumously. I note that there is a (pirated) version available online.
It is my understanding too, and in my opinion a very important fact (if it is correct), that the cause of the accident had been known to the engineers who had to subtly and perhaps surreptitiously make it known to whoever had a political influence as well as understanding of the matter (Feynman in this case).
* the commission was a little politiziced, led by a lawyer who was very concerned that it should just synthesize the conclusions of other agencies' investigations, whereas Feynman (and some other members) wanted to take a much more active role.
* Feynman _really_ hated the committee culture of slow meetings which don't produce much.
* The final report was very bland and careful not to say anything that would make the government look bad. Feynman threatened to resign and make a scene in order to get his appendix published without (too many) edits.
* The actual cause of the accident, the too cold O-rings, was perhaps leaked to the commission by a NASA insider, in a subtle way.
The book was published posthumously. I note that there is a (pirated) version available online.