It IS Rocket Science...

Today we reviewed the NASA Challenger disaster and the organizational dynamics that allowed NASA staff to ignore an ambiguous but real threat to crew safety.  We had the special privilege to discuss the case directly with NASA Chief Structural Engineer Rodney Rocha, who had been involved in the mission.

 

In Challenger, the shuttle managers ignored signs of an imminent threat, despite repeated warnings from engineering staff.  Mr. Rocha share his personal sense of loss and failure, “Until this year, not a single day passed that I didn’t think about the accident. . . I regret not pushing harder, not breaking the door down to get an answer.”

 

In future classes we will discuss ways to insure that our culture and organizational structure counteracts the human tendency to normalize deviations and underestimate ambiguous threats.