If you missed NASA’s Saturday afternoon news conference following the Space Shuttle Columbia’s tragic crash, you missed what may go down as one of the best-handled crisis communications responses ever.

Following any crisis event, the first contact with news media members is always the most difficult. There are so many questions, yet so little is known. Those conducting such an event may be doubly frustrated because of the emotional impact of personal loss, but also because the questions being asked are the ones they so badly want to answer for themselves.

NASA officials endured that ordeal with grace, diplomacy and a level of sincere human concern rarely seen among large organizations in such situations. In that news conference there were no readings of prepared statements of sympathy and condolences, yet the presence of those genuine emotions pervaded the lengthy session.

Participating NASA officials dealt directly with the inevitable speculative questions. They patiently and even repeatedly, discussed the processes involved in managing Columbia’s descent, and those that will be involved in the coming investigation of the disaster.

Reporters attending that news conference also showed a level of restraint and understanding not typical in the early stages following a national catastrophe. They sought answers to tough questions, yet they did so without rancor or impatience. In showing that level of personal restraint, that group of reporters probably did more to open the flow of information than any other effort could have accomplished.

No doubt NASA has reviewed, revised and improved its crisis communications response techniques in the years since the Challenger accident. Regardless, the news conference following Columbia’s tragedy benefited from one core attribute that cannot be replicated in the training room. That attribute is respect.

While wrestling with personal grief and tremendous pressure to understand what went wrong, the men conducting that news conference showed genuine respect for reporters doing their jobs in a difficult situation. In their actions and words, they demonstrated a keen understanding of the nation’s need to know.

For their part, reporters seemed to match that level of respect. Whether it was a response to the obvious emotional impact on the people they were interviewing or some other reaon is irrelevant. Reporters’ respect for those attempting to answer questions was evident in their compliance with the strict one-at-a-time process of the news conference, as well as in their considered phrasing of questions and their willingness to avoid repeatedly asking the same questions.

America learned long ago that tragedies, as bad as they can be, almost always yield unexpected, positive consequences. Within the scope of the Columbia tragedy, perhaps this unexpected positive consequence is of minor relevance. Still, the level of mutual respect between spokespersons and members of the media displayed at that news conference has raised the level of expectations. If emulated by others in the future, perhaps the benefits will be shared long into the future.