Independence
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Tag Archives: Columbia Accident
After Ten Years: the Fateful FRR
George Abbey never allowed a shuttle flight to be scheduled over the last days of January. He was too steeped in the events of the Apollo 1 fire and the STS-51-L loss of Challenger and her crew to put another … Continue reading
Posted in After Ten Years
Tagged Columbia Accident, Flight Readiness review, George Abbey
21 Comments
After Ten Years: STS-113, the Calm before the Storm
Of course the title is wrong; there was nothing calm about STS-113. I was the Ascent/Entry Flight Director as you can see in the picture of the mission control team. This ISS assembly and crew rotation flight was jam packed … Continue reading
Ten Years After Columbia: STS-112, the Harbinger
“You will never remember the many times the launch slipped, but the on-time failures are with you always” – Walt W. Williams, NASA Program Manager for X-15 and Mercury In the summer of 2002, the word got out about the … Continue reading
After Ten Years: A Few Words from Admiral Gehman
I’d like to interrupt my personal recollections of the Columbia accident and its aftermath to give a few words from Admiral Gehman. You might as well know that there are still people out there who will tell you the CAIB … Continue reading
Posted in After Ten Years
Tagged Columbia Accident, Organizational Culture, Program Management, Safety Culture
51 Comments
After Ten Years: Flying A Mature Vehicle – Or Not
“The Space Shuttle is an experimental vehicle with an operational mission” – NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Michael Kostelnik, 2004 The Space Shuttle system was under development for 13 years and then actually flew in space for over 30 years. … Continue reading
Posted in After Ten Years
Tagged Columbia Accident, conventional wisdom, Organizational Culture
16 Comments
Ten Years After Columbia: Pennywise and Pound Foolish
“Relentless budget reduction pressures necessitate more dramatic program actions” – Brewster Shaw, Space Shuttle Program Manager, December 1994 Polls show that the general populace rates the Internal Revenue Service as the most disliked agency in the US Federal government. Among … Continue reading
After Ten Years: The Tyranny of Requirements
My good friend and colleague from the Flight Director’s office, Jeff Bantle, left the agency several years ago to head up Lockheed-Martin’s Presidential Helicopter project. He now has a great presentation talk about how incrementally added requirements can sink a … Continue reading
Posted in After Ten Years
Tagged Columbia Accident, Common Sense, Program Management, Project Management
17 Comments
