"What really happened was typical I think in large bureaucratic organizations, and any big organization where you’re frankly trying to be a hero in doing your job. And NASA had two strikes against it from the start, which one of those is they were too successful. They had gotten by for a quarter of a century now and had never lost a single person going into space, which was considered a very hazardous thing to do. And they had rescued the Apollo 13 halfway to the moon when part of the vehicle blew up. Seemed like it was an impossible task, but they did it. … So it gives you a little bit of arrogance you shouldn’t have. And a huge amount of money [was] involved. But they hadn’t stumbled yet and they just pressed on. So you really had to quote “prove that it would fail” and nobody could do that." -McDonald
I just listened to a Freakanomics podcast about the person who raised a red flag and wanted to cancel the launch. Very interesting listen. Episode was "Failure Is Your Friend".
I just listened to a Freakanomics podcast about the person who raised a red flag and wanted to cancel the launch. Very interesting listen. Episode was "Failure Is Your Friend".
http://freakonomics.com/2014/06/05/failure-is-your-friend-a-...