Quote:
Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
Not quite. The Boeing TX people told NASA they didn't think the foam strike was a problem.
|
That's what top managers (actually I beleive it is United Space Alliance, a Boeing joint venture) said. In the meantime, engineers were not so sure. For example, a computer simulation predicted a 24 inch to 36 inch slice in that insulation. But managers said the simulation was run with too much foam weight or that the simulation was not reliable. A classic example of "lying by telling half truths". Yes the simulation was not as reliable as required because engineers were using the best that they had. They had insufficient data, knew they have insufficient data, and repeatedly requested more data. Management somehow turned that into "everything is OK"
Sally Ride's comments iterate this problem. She describes management failures similar to management failures that destroyed Challenger. Ride was also on the Roger's Commission that investigated Challenger.
They are not accidents. Failures are directly traceable to humans.