1/ I never tire of re-reading Richard Feynman’s personal appendix to the Rogers Commission (Challenger explosion) report. It is a mine of wisdom and good sense.
science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missio…
science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missio…
2/ On management whistling past the graveyard: “Since 1 part in 100,000 would imply that one could put a Shuttle up each day for 300 years expecting to lose only one, we could properly ask ‘What is the cause of management's fantastic faith in the
machinery?’”
machinery?’”
3/ On bait-and-switch with words: “...it was asserted, there was ‘a safety factor of three.’ This is a strange use of the engineer's term, ‘safety factor’.... Erosion was a clue that something was wrong. Erosion was not something from which safety can be inferred.”
4/ On modeling vs. data: “Nevertheless, officials
fooled themselves into thinking they had such understanding.... A mathematical model was made to calculate erosion. This was a model based not on physical understanding but on empirical curve fitting.”
fooled themselves into thinking they had such understanding.... A mathematical model was made to calculate erosion. This was a model based not on physical understanding but on empirical curve fitting.”
5/ On bean-counting: “To summarize then, the computer software checking system and attitude is of the highest quality. To be sure, there have been recent suggestions by management to curtail such elaborate and expensive tests as being unnecessary at this late date....”
6/6 On humility: “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
7/6 @threadreaderapp unroll
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