Re: Challenger

On Tue, 11 Jun 2024 01:43:37 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 6/10/2024 11:11 PM, Phil Hobbs wrote:
>

" In retelling how the decision unfolded through the eyes of the
managers and the engineers, Vaughan uncovers an incremental descent into
poor judgment, supported by a culture of high-risk technology. She
reveals how and why NASA insiders, when repeatedly faced with evidence
that something was wrong, normalized the deviance so that it became
acceptable to them."
>
I guess I'm not grasping from the summary of the Vaughan book how its
conclusions greatly differ from the conclusions of Feynman et al.

 
Maybe if you read the book, you’ll understand. The conclusions could hardly
be more different, given the basic facts of the case.  Boisjoly et al. and
the Rogers commission are only a fraction of the story.
 
Cheers
 
Phil Hobbs
>

>
I was able to at least find a summary, 620 pages about a disaster I'm
barely old enough to remember is a tall ask at this time.
>
<https://web.mit.edu/esd.83/www/notebook/The%20Challenger%20Launch%20Decision_1.pdf>
>
I think I somewhat understand the thrust of the argument, that nobody in
management really believed themselves to be taking risks of the kind the
public later perceived them to have been taking.
>
There was no particular person who was actively like "Welp there's
probably a decent chance the crew won't make it but we're going anyway
because if we don't <some easily enumerable bad thing will happen>", the
consequences to everyone involved were far too high to ever be actively
cavalier.
>
They had their processes and they followed the processes. Yeah Thiokol
engineers balked when asked about this particular launch but I expect
they balked relatively regularly it's no skin off their ass to say "no
go", but at the end of the day as a NASA-person your job is to fire
rockets with people on them from time to time, either have a manned
space program or don't. Can always find reasons not to launch.

The Thiokol engineers said not to launch below 56 degrees F, or the
SRB o-rings wouldn't seal. The temp was 19 that morning.