NASA Challenger accident

ANON, Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (1986), World Wide Web, http //www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-1/docs/rogers-commission/table-of-contents.html, NASA (1997). 

Prepare a report describing events that happened after the space shuttle Challenger accident. Address the following questions. What was the Reagan Administration s reaction to the Commission report What effects did the accident have on NASA, the rocket booster contractor, and on future plans for space flight ... 

Examine newspaper and magazine articles published in the six-month period following the Challenger accident. From these sources, identify (by title) NASA and contractor personnel who have resigned or been reassigned in the aftermath of the accident. 

Besides the loss of human hfe, the harm caused by this accident had a financial component. According to NASA, the Space Shuttle Endeavor, the orbiter buUt to replace the Space Shuttle Challenger, cost approximately 1.7 billion. http //www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/ about/information/shuttle faq.html l... 

Regarding the go pubUc option, given NASA s determination to launch, MTI s wilUngness to accommodate NASA, and the fact that the launch (11 38 a.m. EST) took place only about 12 hours after the end of the teleconference (11 15 p.m.), it is unlikely that contacting a newspaper or television reporter immediately after the teleconference and warning that Challenger was at serious risk of an accident if launched the next morning would have stopped the launch. 

As the CAIB concluded, the accident did not have simple and isolated causes. There were many contributing factors, ranging from the environment, to NASA s histoiy, policy and technology, to organizational structures and processes and the behaviors of individual employees and managers. The breadth and complexity of these factors call for a research inquiry that examines both specific factors and their combined effects. The unfortunate precedent of the Challenger disaster in 1986 provides an opportunity to compare two well-documented accidents and consider how NASA developed over time. 

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