The Challenger Launch Decision
Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA, Enlarged Edition
University of Chicago Press, 2015
Paper: 978-0-226-34682-3 | Electronic: 978-0-226-34696-0
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226346960.001.0001
Paper: 978-0-226-34682-3 | Electronic: 978-0-226-34696-0
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226346960.001.0001
ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYREVIEWSTABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
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.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Diane Vaughan is professor of sociology and international and public affairs at Columbia University.
REVIEWS
“A landmark study."
— AtlanticTABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables
Preface to the2016 Edition
Preface
One: The Eve of the Launch
Two: Learning Culture, Revising History
Three: Risk, Work Group Culture, and The Normalization of Deviance
Four: The Normalization of Deviance, 1981-1984
Five: The Normalization of Deviance, 1985
Six: The Culture of Production
Seven: Structural Secrecy
Eight: The Eve of the Launch Revisited
Nine: Conformity and Tragedy
Ten: Lessons Learned
Appendix A: Cost/Safety Trade-offs? Scrapping the Escape Rockets and the SRB Contract Award Decision
Appendix B: Supporting Charts and Documents
Appdenix C: On Theory Elaboration, Organizations, and Historical Ethnography
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index