"Comm Check ... The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia"

For seven months after the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over East Texas on Feb. 1, Orlando Sentinel Space Editor Michael Cabbage provided readers with a steady stream of exclusive stories about why the shuttle broke up, the progress of the investigation and how the event exposed serious weaknesses in the "safety culture" of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Shortly after the Columbia Accident Investigating Board came out with its final report in late August, Cabbage and veteran space reporter William Harwood of CBS News began work on a comprehensive account of the tragedy. Titled "Comm Check ... The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia," the book was published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Shuster, on Jan. 27.