After watching the second in the series of video tapes from Mark Maier - "A Major Malfunction" answer the following questions:
Would you characterize this an an "accident" or not? Explain.
"There is no such thing as a risk-free system when it comes to space flight ... No guts, No glory!" Assess the legitimacy of this philosophy in the case of the Challenger.
What is meant by "unnecessary risks"?
Jerry Mason, General manager at Morton Tiokol asked his colleagues "Am I the only one who wants to fly?" Was this a legitimate question? Or was it a challenge for the others to join his side of the argument?
Why was there silence after this statement?
If there is a chain of command, or reporting line, is it necessary to pass up the line ALL information regarding disputed but resolved issues?
In the face of the lack of pertinent data, does "common sense" take a front seat in the decision making process?
If the perceived problem on the Challenger had been an unspecified computer bug, would you have recommended a decision to fly?
If you were a lowly computer programmer involved in a safety critical system design and you KNEW that there was a bug in the system, how far would you go to make this bug known? Your boss? Your second level manager? The company CEO? The public?