Former NASA engineer speaks

Mr Wooldridge, of Southway, Littlehampton, who worked on the space shuttle in the early days of the project, told the Gazette that NASA should never have attempted to bring the seven astronauts back to earth in Columbia, knowing it had been damaged during take-off.

"They should have docked Columbia at the space station, and then sent a rescue shuttle up there to bring the crew back. It could have been prevented, in my opinion."

The first Mr Wooldridge knew of the tragedy, in which all seven astronauts lost their lives, was when he saw a television newsflash saying the shuttle was in difficulties.

"I saw it explode it was a terrible shock. There will be a lot of questions asked at the Johnson Space Center and they will all be in shock there.

"I would like to see the shuttles carry on flying. There has been a lot of criticism of them, but before they are allowed to take off, they have a very thorough inspection, all round. Everything is looked at and anything which fails is taken out and replaced. But accidents do happen.

"They ought to consider building a smaller shuttle, with no payload, just room for a crew, which could be used to rescue crews in other craft who are in difficulties, like a lifeboat."

Mr Wooldridge, 89, worked for NASA as a chief technical engineer at the Johnson Space Center in the 1960s and 1970s, helping to test and develop the materials used in shuttle construction and working on electrical and electronic installations. He had the opportunity to go inside capsules which went to the moon and knew some of the astronauts at the time personally.