catastrophe in the NASA Space Program

Space Shuttle Challenger Final Mission

The Space Shuttle program project originated back in the 1960s and was inspired by the Apollo lunar landing. The objective of the space shuttle was to provide frequent, economical transport to low earth space that was accessible to the public. The Space Shuttle was designed to be the equivalent of a “space ferry”. This ambitious idea of reusable spacecraft had initially been presented to President Nixon in the early 1970’s, with a relatively low annual cost estimate of $4 to $6 billion. The final project components consisted of an Earth-orbiting space station and the Space Ferry Shuttle. It also led to the birth of the National Space Transportation System.

The task of building a safe, durable, economic and reusable spacecraft was both complex and challenging. It involved several National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) centers: operation, development and maintenance facilities. The program employed prime industrial contractors and subcontractors, involving the contributions of several thousand individuals.

Space Shuttle Development was divided between several centers each responsible for a specific task.

Rockwell International Corporation’s Space Transportation Systems division provided the design and development of the Space Shuttle Orbiter;
Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace developed and constructed the External Tank;
Morton Thiokol Corporation designed and manufactured the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB’s);
Rocketdyne, a division of Rockwell, developed the Orbiter and main engines.
Managerial obligations over the program development were allocated among three field centers:

Johnson Space Center (“Johnson”) in Houston, Texas oversaw the Orbiter
Marshall Space Flight Center (“Marshall”) in Huntsville, Alabama was responsible for the Orbiter’s main engines, the External Tank and the SRB’s;
Kennedy Space Center (“Kennedy”) in Merritt Island, Florida was tasked with assembling and checking the Space Shuttle components, and conducting launches.
The Space Shuttle development program experienced numerous challenges including budgetary constraints, engineering complexities, and project time-delivery limitations. The program eventually completed orbital testing in 1981 and went into operation in mid-1982. Through January 1986, the NASA Space Shuttle flew 24 successful missions over a 57-month period. The most frequent shuttlecraft used was Challenger, accomplishing nine successful flights. It would not survive a tenth attempt.

Challenger was the craft chosen for the launch of mission 51-L, which was postponed three times. The third postponement occurred an evening before the third planned launch date on January 25, 1986. That evening, management held a conference call to review and discuss weather conditions forecast for Kennedy. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the launch was re-scheduled to January 27th. The Challenger crew started their day at 5:07 am to prepare for the launch. However, by 9 am that morning, the launch had been halted yet again due to the problems with an exterior hatch handle. By the time the issue was fixed, the winds on the Kennedy launch pad had increased to an unacceptable level and the mission was postponed again to the next day.

Later that evening, the temperature dropped to about twenty degrees Fahrenheit. The Space Shuttle management team sent engineers to assess the Orbiter for potential issues associated with the low temperatures for the upcoming launch. No issues were identified and the launch was permitted to proceed as planned. However, during the night, ice accumulated in the launch area. After inspection the next morning, the project manager decided to allow for additional time for the accumulated ice to melt. A final assessment of the icy conditions was then performed at 11:15 am, with the spacecraft finally cleared for launch. The Flight 51-L crew then boarded the spacecraft. The Challenger flight began at 11:38:00.010 am on January 28th, 1986. Challenger’s signal was lost by Mission Control only 73 short seconds later…

The spacecraft flew in a cloud of fire just 73 seconds after liftoff at an altitude of 46,000 feet. Further investigation showed that no explosion had taken place. The fatal problem involved a seal in the right Solid-fuel Rocket Booster. The Challenger crew did not die immediately. The passenger cabin was found to have been torn away from the shuttle, breaking apart and flying for a couple of seconds until hitting the surface of the Atlantic Ocean at more than 200 mph.

This resulted in the highest profile catastrophe in the NASA Space Program.


We Select risk quantification enterprise risk management (ERM) processes. Please identify one cognitive biases on the slide