The Space Shuttle that fell to Earth (BBC Documentary)
Discussion
Just finished this.
I was absolutely amazed at the culture that was evident in NASA at the time, any engineer should've been able to voice concerns to management. Dreadful.
The footage of the foam experiment was eye opening too, quite why the possibility of damage hadn't been explored from the main tank insulation hitting the shuttle after previous incidents was short sighted.
I was absolutely amazed at the culture that was evident in NASA at the time, any engineer should've been able to voice concerns to management. Dreadful.
The footage of the foam experiment was eye opening too, quite why the possibility of damage hadn't been explored from the main tank insulation hitting the shuttle after previous incidents was short sighted.
Ther culture at NASA was no different to the culture you see in so many organisations - whether that be Boeing, the Post Office, the NHS etc. Nobody wants to speak out for fear of upsetting the applecart and suffering professionally.
The shocking thing as far as NASA was concerned was that the lessons that SHOULD have been learned from the Challenger accident seemed to have been forgotten very, very quickly.
The shocking thing as far as NASA was concerned was that the lessons that SHOULD have been learned from the Challenger accident seemed to have been forgotten very, very quickly.
Eric Mc said:
Ther culture at NASA was no different to the culture you see in so many organisations - whether that be Boeing, the Post Office, the NHS etc. Nobody wants to speak out for fear of upsetting the applecart and suffering professionally.
The shocking thing as far as NASA was concerned was that the lessons that SHOULD have been learned from the Challenger accident seemed to have been forgotten very, very quickly.
this.The shocking thing as far as NASA was concerned was that the lessons that SHOULD have been learned from the Challenger accident seemed to have been forgotten very, very quickly.
i have not seen this documentary though , its on my list to watch...but theres been many in the past on this tragedy ....
But one man had the balls to resign before the launch, stating he thought it unsafe to launch in the cold temperatures because the o rings were not specified to seal in the low temperatures. Sorry cannot remember his name maybe bojeley?
He saw what could happen and resigned so was not held liable, quite rightly.
Maybe needed someone like him in the PO, it takes one with the right stuff
He saw what could happen and resigned so was not held liable, quite rightly.
Maybe needed someone like him in the PO, it takes one with the right stuff
Mercdriver said:
But one man had the balls to resign before the launch, stating he thought it unsafe to launch in the cold temperatures because the o rings were not specified to seal in the low temperatures. Sorry cannot remember his name maybe bojeley?
He saw what could happen and resigned so was not held liable, quite rightly.
Maybe needed someone like him in the PO, it takes one with the right stuff
The O ring issue was the first shuttle disaster, Challenger.He saw what could happen and resigned so was not held liable, quite rightly.
Maybe needed someone like him in the PO, it takes one with the right stuff
I got the impression NASA was being run on similar lines to the military. Clearly it just wasn't acceptable to go outside the chain of command. To us, watching from the outside and with hindsight, it seems obvious the smartest engineers on the planet should all be allowed to raise their concerns.
This was a very tough watch but well very made so kudos to the BBC. It made me feel sad that NASA has this type of culture and hopefully it is completely eradicated now. The challenger doc (the o-rings as mentioned above) is on Netflix is also very sad viewing because they had such high hope for that mission by sending a civilian teacher into space. The space shuttle is an iconic feat of engineering and really was ahead of its time when it was visioned as a space vehicle that would mean travel would become easier and cost effective.
Mercdriver said:
You are right, memory not so good these days but I think the guy who resigned was not in the military he was engineer for the booster program.
Having said that you can understand why nasa was run on military lines, made sense at the time I guess
As far as I am aware, nobody actually resigned before the launch of Challenger. A number of Thiokol managers recommended that the Shuttle should not launch because of the low temperatures. Initially, the management at Thiokol agreed with their engineers but, under pressure from NASA, changed their mind and then agreed that the launch should go ahead. The Thiokol management technically over ruled their own engineers. ONE of the Thiokol, managers, Alan McDonald, refused to sign off on the launch decsion as he disagreed with it fundamentally and his immediate boss did the signing instead. He said it was the smartest thing he ever did in his life - even though he displeased his employer immensely. Having said that you can understand why nasa was run on military lines, made sense at the time I guess
Far from resigning, McDonald stayed with Thiokol until he retired.
Only watched the first episode but as others have said its very sobering viewing knowing the outcome, especially with all the behind the scenes footage from one of the crew.
I may be wrong in this assumption but given how much of the training is in simulators/ underwater etc, I got the impression when they were entering the shuttle it was the first time they'd actually seen it first hand, and if they seen how old and tired it looked by then, was it over 20 missions, they may have had second thoughts. A couple of them did appear really nervous (understandably) on the launch pad and I reckon if they had the option of backing out there and then without any consequences they may have done so.
I may be wrong in this assumption but given how much of the training is in simulators/ underwater etc, I got the impression when they were entering the shuttle it was the first time they'd actually seen it first hand, and if they seen how old and tired it looked by then, was it over 20 missions, they may have had second thoughts. A couple of them did appear really nervous (understandably) on the launch pad and I reckon if they had the option of backing out there and then without any consequences they may have done so.
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