Redesign Enables NASA Site to Handle Traffic Surge, TragedyThe
space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on entry Feb. 1. NASA's Web
site received 72 million hits that day -- less than 24 hours
after its revamp. By month's end, NASA.gov had attracted an
unprecedented 512 million hits. Despite the enormous surge in
traffic, not once did the site have problems, NASA officials
said. "NASA would not have been able to handle the volume of
traffic were it not for overhauled technical infrastructure and
information architecture," said Tyler Niess, account director at
Calgary, Alberta-based Critical Mass, the interactive agency
that handles the NASA account along with eTouch, Fremont, CA.
February's traffic volume was more than the previous five years
combined. Perhaps the closest online interest NASA.gov received
to the Columbia disaster was when NASA landed the Mars
Pathfinder probe in July 1997, when it received 750 million hits
over the probe's six-month mission. Of course, it helps that
NASA is a government agency wi