Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook947 pages14 hours
The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA, Enlarged Edition
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. Diane Vaughan recreates the steps leading up to that fateful decision, contradicting conventional interpretations to prove that what occurred at NASA was not skullduggery or misconduct but a disastrous mistake.
Why did NASA managers, who not only had all the information prior to the launch but also were warned against it, decide to proceed? 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. In a new preface, Vaughan reveals the ramifications for this book and for her when a similar decision-making process brought down NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Why did NASA managers, who not only had all the information prior to the launch but also were warned against it, decide to proceed? 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. In a new preface, Vaughan reveals the ramifications for this book and for her when a similar decision-making process brought down NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Unavailable
Read more from Diane Vaughan
The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead Reckoning: Air Traffic Control, System Effects, and Risk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Challenger Launch Decision
Related ebooks
The Astronaut Maker: How One Mysterious Engineer Ran Human Spaceflight for a Generation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fatal Faults: The Story of the Challenger Explosion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Suddenly, Tomorrow Came: The NASA History of the Johnson Space Center Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Nuclear Family Vacation: Travels in the World of Atomic Weaponry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Discovery: Champion of the Space Shuttle Fleet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of NASA's Apollo Lunar Expeditions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Partnership: A NASA History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaturn V Rocket Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NASA's First Space Shuttle Astronaut Selection: Redefining the Right Stuff Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRocket Men: the daring odyssey of Apollo 8 and the astronauts who made man’s first journey to the moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies - Updated Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spaceshots and Snapshots of Projects Mercury and Gemini: A Rare Photographic History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Comm Check...: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Return to Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Challenger: An American Tragedy: The Inside Story from Launch Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8: The First Manned Mission to Another World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Space Race: The Battle to Rule the Heavens (text only edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atomic America: How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral Changed the Course of Nuclear History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Social Science For You
A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Years a Slave (Illustrated) (Two Pence books) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Challenger Launch Decision
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
4 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Institutions Create and Condone RiskThe Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. To millions of viewers, it is a moment they will never forget. Official inquiries into the accident placed the blame with a “frozen, brittle O ring.” In this book, Diane Vaughan, a Boston College Professor of Sociology, does not stop there. In what I think is a brilliant piece of research, she traces the threads of the disaster's roots to fabric of NASA’s institutional life and culture.NASA saw itself competing for scarce resources. This fostered a culture that accepted risk-taking and corner-cutting as norms that shaped decision-making. Small, seemingly harmless modifications to technical and procedural standards propelled the space agency toward the disaster. No specific rules were broken, yet well-intentioned people produced great harm.Vaughan often resorts to an academic writing style, yet there is no confusion about its conclusion. “The explanation of the Challenger launch is a story of how people who worked together developed patterns that blinded them to the consequences of their actions,” wrote Dr. Vaughan.“It is not only about the development of norms but about the incremental expansion of normative boundaries: how small changes--new behaviors that were slight deviations from the normal course of events- gradually became the norm, providing a basis for accepting additional deviance. Nor rules were violated; there was no intent to do harm. Yet harm was done. Astronauts died.”For project and risk managers, this book offers a rare warning of the hazards of working in structured and institutionalized environments.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the definitive book about the Challenger disaster. It's long and involved, but it will change your mind about what caused the disaster.