Preview

Challenger Space Shuttle Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
520 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Challenger Space Shuttle Essay
DATA ANALYSIS

1.) Why or how did the issues arise?

Challenger Space Shuttle

* Management’s decision for the launch to proceed.

Cause: The upper-level management in both Moton Thiokol and Marshall Flight Center ignored the engineering expertise of the Thiokol engineers who worked on the Solid Rocket Booster Development Program.

Effect: An order for the launch to proceed has been decided even when all the facts where unknown about the problem on the SRB design on low-temperatures.

* Political Pressures

Cause: * The Congress was becoming increasingly unhappy with the delays in the shuttle project and shuttle performance. * NASA was feeling some urgency in the program because the European Space Agency was developing what seemed to
…show more content…

Columbia Space Shuttle

* Cultural issues within NASA: “Broken Safety Culture”

Cause: The problem with the foam detaching from the fuel tank during launch had already happened on previous occasions, as well as with the foam had striking the shuttle. Solutions to the problem had been proposed over the years but none had been implemented. Although NASA engineers initially identified foam strikes as a majority safety concern for the shuttle after many launches with no safety problems due to the foam, NASA management became complacent and overlooked the potential for the foam to cause major problems.

Effect: The detachment of the foam damaged the tiles that led to the subsequent failure of critical components of the shuttle.

2.) Who is affected most by this issues? The stakeholders of the following issues includes the American government and its people that funds and delegates the agency with the responsibility for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Also, and the most important stakeholders, are the crew whose lives are at stake at every


You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The three major stakeholders in this case were NASA, and its two contractor teams from Stanford University and Lockheed Martin. Stanford University physics department, under the leadership of…

    • 2381 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The miss-communication affected lack of communication involving the Thiokol engineers and the NASA technicians; since the Thiokol engineers did not pass the required piece of information to NASA’s appropriate persons (Raval, 2014). The single-chain of command in the management structure failed to maintain communication movement that was necessary, as the technologists can just speak to their very own managers and the info was not correctly delivered. The technologists of Thiokol were not able to convince the management board to understand the need for the O-ring issue. The engineers of Thiokol were not enabled to have conversation with NASA people so the significant information wasn't shared properly. Thiokol, under pressure gave approval to launch and unperceived to all the challenger was headed for disaster. Due to technical and management issues the program was ground until the proper changes were made to ensure a safe operation of…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The sequence of events that led to the bad decision on the part of NASA’s base lie in economic, political, and scheduling backlog pressures. Competition from the European Space Agency put NASA under pressure to come up with a space mission, which would hopefully shed light on the ability of NASA to plan commercialized space departures. NASA also had to prove that its program should continue to be funded; another unforeseen pressure pushing NASA to schedule its record number of Space exploration trips that year than in any other year. Also, the space shuttle mission scheduled before the Challenger had been delayed over and over; a record number of times. The next mission after the Challenger involved a probe being sent into space in order to evaluate Haley’s Comet. If the Challenger and subsequently the next mission were not executed in a timely manner then a doppelganger probe from Russia would beat the U.S. probe to Haley’s Comet. Pressure to launch the challenger, as soon as possible, could have also come from President Reagan’s upcoming State of the Union Address in which he would be mentioning the first teacher astronaut in space. All of these beforehand mentioned pressures led to bad engineering design, and timing, which ultimately led to the failure of the Space Shuttle Challenger mission. In order to evaluate and correct…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Challenger suffered several launch delays six days prior to liftoff. NASA officials overruled concerns that the engineers had, and ordered a liftoff at 11:38 a.m. “I found out later that the people who worked on the engines always had their fingers crossed on each flight, and the moment they saw the shuttle explode, they were all sure it was the engines. But of course, the TV replay showed a flame coming out of one of the solid rocket boosters” (Feynman27).…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Apollo 13 - Paper 5

    • 2683 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The third critical event occurs as the astronauts are performing routine maintenance onboard the spacecraft. Swigert is commanded by Mission Control to ¡°stir the oxygen tanks,¡± which causes an explosion resulting in a loss of oxygen supply to the astronauts. This incident changes the progress of the…

    • 2683 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Vanguard Project History

    • 2257 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Lyndon B. Johnson, Senate preparedness Subcommittee chairman, immediately began a “full, complete, and exhaustive inquiry into the state of the nation’s satellite and missile efforts (Lyndon B. Johnson quoted in Vanguard – A History).” The Vanguard project had received ultimate priority in military initiatives and, as a result, received a needed boost in men, materials, and money. This drastic increase in effort on the part of everyone involved had culminated in greater testing and development of Vanguard project rockets. Despite multiple failures throughout 1957 and 1958, their efforts culminated in a successful launch on January 31st, 1958. Explorer 1 left the launch pad at cape Canaveral and, at last, the United States had proven their worth in space exploration (Office of the Historian). Despite their eventual success, the political ramifications of “losing” the first milestone of the space race were lasting. The United States had developed newfound conviction in the space race, now aware of their adversaries’ potential; additionally, the creation of NASA had cemented space exploration’s place in the US government and budget. The United States’ delayed reaction, only prioritizing space exploration after the Soviet display of their technology, highlighted the competitive nature of the nation. Had the Soviets not succeeded…

    • 2257 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people undermine the importance and contributions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA. As president Obama is forced to make severe budget cuts, NASA is among the most affected programs to endure the blow. This issue does not take aback many people, but experts say that what is occurring will affect everyone as well as the economy more than they may believe. These extreme budget cuts recently issued by Congress impinge on the NASA space program by having a large impact on culture, and risking the setback of innovation in today’s machine-driven society.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Space Race Research Paper

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    That same year President Eisenhower signed the public order which created the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA). After the creation of NASA the Space Race would continue to heat up when the Soviet space program launched Luna 2 which was the first space probe to hit the moon. As if that accomplishment wasn’t enough the Soviet continued to soar forward in Space exploration being the first country to send the first person to orbit the Earth. This was done so in a capsule-like spacecraft known as Vostok 1. The United States could not just sit back and be out done, so with much effort they build a smaller, cone-shaped capsule that was found to be far lighter than Vostok. This capsule would be used to test and conduct Project Mercury, an American name for the efforts to send a man into space. The U.S. used chimpanzees to test the space craft, and made one final test in March of 1961. On May 5, 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Later that same month President John F. Kennedy decided to make a bold and powerful statement which would claim that the U.S. would land…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nevertheless, the significance of the Space Race was more than just what it seemed to be on the surface level. America was…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the causes of the explosion was the temperature. The cold temperatures effected the O-rings and caused them to lose their sealing ability. When the O-rings are exposed to temperatures under 32 degrees, they stiffen and lose their resilience (D’Alto, 2004), causing them to lose their ability to properly seal. Another cause for it was that the Morton Thiokol had overruled their own engineers. If they had listened to their engineers and had waited to launch Challenger until the weather had warmed up, the explosion would have never happened. An effect from the explosion, was that NASA was required to come up with a new design for their shuttles, hoping to eliminate the chances of having another disaster like the…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fggds

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The challenger explosion happened because there was a broken O ring. If the scientists didn’t overlook this problem then those people who died in the explosion would have lived the carelessness of these people cost the other people their life. I think that this could have been easily stopped the flight could have been postponed or even cancelled but it wasn’t and cost 7 people their life the families blame the space program for these deaths.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    By examining this further, we will look at the lives of the seven who died in…

    • 3040 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    10. There was a lack of governance structure or escalation procedures - Reinhardt’s first opportunity to escalate was six months into the project – only once it was behind schedule and over budget.…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Case Study Merck

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Think about the definition of stakeholders—any parties with a stake in the organizations actions or performance. Who are the stakeholders in this situation? How many can you list? On what basis would you rank them in importance?…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Business Trip to Brussels

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages

    • Due to overcrowding the Arrival terminal, staff could not look after the cleanliness factor. Bad communication between workforces.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays