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A TALE OF TWO ACCIDENTS

Chun Wei Choo

in The Knowing Organization: How Organizations Use Information to Construct Meaning, Create Knowledge, and Make Decisions

This chapter analyzes two organizational disasters that led to the loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia in 1986 and 2003. These decision and information failures highlight interactions ... More

This chapter analyzes two organizational disasters that led to the loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia in 1986 and 2003. These decision and information failures highlight interactions between meaning, knowing, and acting that can impede learning in any organization. Thus, sensemaking driven by beliefs and past actions can be a way of seeing as well as a way of not seeing problems and risks. Knowledge creation can be compromised when vital knowledge is not transferred, and when knowledge use is controlled by organizational agendas. Repeated patterns of decision making can entrench rules, induce overconfidence, and lower vigilance.Less

Challenger

Ned O'Gorman

in The Iconoclastic Imagination: Image, Catastrophe, and Economy in America from the Kennedy Assassination to September 11

Chapter four looks at a second American iconoclasm in the Cold War era, the Challenger disaster. Approaching the disaster in the context of Ronald Reagan’s America, where both television and ... More

Chapter four looks at a second American iconoclasm in the Cold War era, the Challenger disaster. Approaching the disaster in the context of Ronald Reagan’s America, where both television and neoliberal policy were reaching crescendos, the chapter argues that Reagan’s “Challenger Address” was a means of negotiating broader crises in political representation in America’s Cold War. Consistent with the iconoclastic tradition and its cultural, political, and indeed civic religious legacies, the “Challenger Address” pits “America” against the image. The nation, Reagan argues, like outer space, is uncontainable. But Reagan’s iconoclastic text is not strictly a matter of nationalist ideology; it concerns crises in representation that have both cultural and economic dimensions, in the form of television and deregulation respectively.Less

From Legacy to Legend

Megan Taylor Shockley

in The Captain's Widow of Sandwich: Self-Invention and the Life of Hannah Rebecca Burgess, 1834-1917

This chapter details how Rebecca's story had reached a wider audience and from there, had encouraged her to shape her own legend for the community. During the 1870s and beyond Rebecca added to her ... More

This chapter details how Rebecca's story had reached a wider audience and from there, had encouraged her to shape her own legend for the community. During the 1870s and beyond Rebecca added to her story significantly, in a way that made her appear even more the exciting, romantic heroine in her own maritime tale. By making a point to recount her version of her maritime experience to the wider community, Rebecca ensured the perpetuation of her persona, not only as William's loving wife but also as a woman who “saved” the Challenger's ship and crew from “certain peril” as William lay dying.Less

Women of the Moon

Daniel R. Altschuler and Fernando J. Ballesteros

in The Women of the Moon: Tales of Science, Love, Sorrow, and Courage

For each of the “Women of the Moon”, a biography and the reason for receiving the honor are described. The women included are Hypatia of Alexandria, Catherine of Alexandria, Nicole-Reine de la Briere ... More

For each of the “Women of the Moon”, a biography and the reason for receiving the honor are described. The women included are Hypatia of Alexandria, Catherine of Alexandria, Nicole-Reine de la Briere Lepaute, Caroline Lucretia Herschel, Mary Fairfax Greig Somerville, Anne Sheepshanks, Catherine Wolfe Bruce, Maria Mitchell, Agnes Mary Clerke, Sofia Vasílyevna Kovalévskaya, Annie Scott Dill Russell Maunder, Williamina Paton Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Maury, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Mary Adela Blagg, Mary Proctor, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Lise Meitner, Amalie Emmy Noether, Louise Freeland Jenkins, Priscilla Fairfield Bok, Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori, and the astronauts/cosmonauts Judith Arlene Resnik, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, and Valentina Vladímirovna Nikolayeva Tereshkova.Less

Now, Voyager

Ellen Willis

in No More Nice Girls: Countercultural Essays

This chapter considers outer space as a metaphor for liberation and loneliness by focusing on the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. For both proponents and detractors, the military model of ... More

This chapter considers outer space as a metaphor for liberation and loneliness by focusing on the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. For both proponents and detractors, the military model of space flight coats the strangeness and terror of the enterprise with a deceptive familiarity. However the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) may define the conditions and the symbolism of space travel, it is ultimately dealing with the unpredictable and unknown. However space flight may be pressed into the service of nationalism and militarism, the nature of the journey is anything but parochial: it allows, for the first time, the possibility of literally seeing the world from another perspective. The potential effect on human life and culture is equally limitless. One of the seven crew members killed in the Challenger disaster was Christa McAuliffe, whose death humanized NASA.Less

Radiolaria: validating the Turing theory

Bernard Richards

in The Turing Guide

In his 1952 paper ‘The chemical basis of morphogenesis’ Turing postulated his now famous Morphogenesis Equation. He claimed that his theory would explain ... More

In his 1952 paper ‘The chemical basis of morphogenesis’ Turing postulated his now famous Morphogenesis Equation. He claimed that his theory would explain why plants and animals took the shapes they did. When I joined him, Turing suggested that I might solve his equation in three dimensions, a new problem. After many manipulations using rather sophisticated mathematics and one of the first factory-produced computers in the UK, I derived a series of solutions to Turing’s equation. I showed that these solutions explained the shapes of specimens of the marine creatures known as Radiolaria, and that they corresponded very closely to the actual spiny shapes of real radiolarians. My work provided further evidence for Turing’s theory of morphogenesis, and in particular for his belief that the external shapes exhibited by Radiolaria can be explained by his reaction–diffusion mechanism. While working in the Computing Machine Laboratory at the University of Manchester in the early 1950s, Alan Turing reignited the interests he had had in both botany and biology from his early youth. During his school-days he was more interested in the structure of the flowers on the school sports field than in the games played there (see Fig. 1.3). It is known that during the Second World War he discussed the problem of phyllotaxis (the arrangement of leaves and florets in plants), and then at Manchester he had some conversations with Claude Wardlaw, the Professor of Botany in the University. Turing was keen to take forward the work that D’Arcy Thompson had published in On Growth and Form in 1917. In his now-famous paper of 1952 Turing solved his own ‘Equation of Morphogenesis’ in two dimensions, and demonstrated a solution that could explain the ‘dappling’—the black-and-white patterns—on cows. The next step was for me to solve Turing’s equation in three dimensions. The two-dimensional case concerns only surface features of organisms, such as dappling, spots, and stripes, whereas the three-dimensional version concerns the overall shape of an organism. In 1953 I joined Turing as a research student in the University of Manchester, and he set me the task of solving his equation in three dimensions. A remarkable journey of collaboration began. Turing chatted to me in a very friendly fashion. Less

Emancipating Structures and Cognitive Styles

Karen A. Cerulo

in Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst

This chapter investigates the role of emancipating structures in the development of negative asymmetry. It compares high-profile cases involving worst-case scenarios including the SARS outbreak of ... More

This chapter investigates the role of emancipating structures in the development of negative asymmetry. It compares high-profile cases involving worst-case scenarios including the SARS outbreak of 2003, the Y2K threat of 2000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's handling of the “Phoenix memo” in 2001, and the Challenger disaster of 1986. The analysis reveals that certain structures play a pivotal role in nurturing the cognitive deviance needed to anticipate and avoid disaster. This chapter shows how emancipating structures can loosen the hold of dominant cultural practices and free groups and communities to pursue both unanticipated problems and creative solutions.Less

Discovering the Ocean: Of Fish and Ships and People

Wolf H. Berger

in Ocean: Reflections on a Century of Exploration

This chapter discusses the impact of human activities on the ocean and provides a brief history of the expansion of ocean research. It begins by discussing the major causes of fishery decline in the ... More

This chapter discusses the impact of human activities on the ocean and provides a brief history of the expansion of ocean research. It begins by discussing the major causes of fishery decline in the North Atlantic. This is followed by a discussion on the history of early oceanography and the contributions of the Challenger Expedition and other expeditions that led to the progress of oceanographic science. The chapter then describes the history of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a research center concerned with the study of nearshore and deep-sea organisms, as well as the geophysics of the seafloor and life-support systems of the planet.Less

A Poet’s Heart

Jonathan R. Eller

in Bradbury Beyond Apollo

In 1985 Bradbury was invited to testify before the National Commission on Space. Chapter 23 opens with Bradbury’s testimony highlights, which trace his notion that the life force expressed in the ... More

In 1985 Bradbury was invited to testify before the National Commission on Space. Chapter 23 opens with Bradbury’s testimony highlights, which trace his notion that the life force expressed in the writings of George Bernard Shaw, Henri Bergson, and Nikos Kazantzakis was inextricably involved in the human desire to explore the cosmos. The chapter also shows how Bradbury further modified his cosmic vision in the wake of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster in his Guest of Honor lecture at the 1986 Science Fiction World Con. The launch of the Ray Bradbury Theater television series, his brief correspondence with Malcolm Cowley, and the great loss of literature cause by the massive Los Angeles Library fire round out the chapter.Less

An American Icon

Jonathan R. Eller

in Bradbury Beyond Apollo

Bradbury’s honors soon included the Mark Twain Literary Award and a screenwriting award founded in his name by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Chapter 31 continues through ... More

Bradbury’s honors soon included the Mark Twain Literary Award and a screenwriting award founded in his name by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Chapter 31 continues through Bradbury’s unsuccessful attempt to interest Ted Turner in a new film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, and his keynote fundraising address to support the Challenger Center for Science Education. In June 1993, screenings of Bradbury films were featured in the American Film Institute’s 7th annual International Film Festival. The various lectures, engagements, and circulating film projects continued to draw time and creativity away from story writing; chapter 31 concludes with an accounting of his low story production and his lack of success with magazines beyond specialty markets.Less

Voyager Redux, Galileo, and Magellan

Peter J. Westwick

in Into the Black: JPL and the American Space Program, 1976-2004

This chapter shows that despite the failure of the SSEC plan—the bloated Mars Observer, the deferral of Mariner Mark II—the decade of the 1980s closed on a generally upbeat note. The optimism of ... More

This chapter shows that despite the failure of the SSEC plan—the bloated Mars Observer, the deferral of Mariner Mark II—the decade of the 1980s closed on a generally upbeat note. The optimism of 1985, dashed by Challenger, returned. Mars Observer and CRAF/Cassini, although expanding beyond austerity, were still under way. Voyager meanwhile continued to sustain the lab with encounters with Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989, and together with Galileo and Magellan it combined to restore confidence at JPL. Amid the drought in planetary launches, the main sustenance for planetary scientists in this period came from Voyager 2's encounters at Uranus and Neptune, which extended Voyager's triumphal tour of the outer solar system. The encounters, however, did not simply entail sitting back and waiting for the spacecraft to get there but required much new work.Less

The Information Sharing Crisis that Does Not Go Away

Alon Peled

in Traversing Digital Babel: Information, E-Government, and Exchange

The chapter illustrates the severity of public sector information sharing failures with five tragic events where information sharing failure was decisive: the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion; the ... More

The chapter illustrates the severity of public sector information sharing failures with five tragic events where information sharing failure was decisive: the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion; the 9/11 terror attacks; Hurricane Katrina; the 2010 Haiti earthquake; and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. The chapter defines public agencies as big data owners and shows that the volume of big data processed and stored in the public sector far surpasses that of the private sector. The chapter then describes the massive cost of public sector information sharing failures in terms of wasted funds, lives lost, fraud, low data quality, and ineffective governance.Less

Twentieth-Century Space

Claude A. Piantadosi

in Mankind Beyond Earth: The History, Science, and Future of Human Space Exploration

This chapter explains the evolution of our knowledge of the problems of putting people into space and how the remaining issues can be resolved through perseverance, continuity, and international ... More

This chapter explains the evolution of our knowledge of the problems of putting people into space and how the remaining issues can be resolved through perseverance, continuity, and international cooperation. It begins with a short synopsis of the development of the key twentieth-century concepts that built on the requirement for hard-shell engineering covered in Chapter 3. It discusses Project Apollo which culminated on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 carrying Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility. It describes two major shuttle disasters: the Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986 and the Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. The final section focuses on the decision to build the International Space Station (ISS) in 1993.Less

The National Security Agencies Abandon the Shuttle

James E. David

in Spies and Shuttles: NASA's Secret Relationships with the DoD and CIA

It soon became evident after the Shuttle's long-delayed first flight in 1981 that it could neither meet the estimated flight schedule nor achieve the original performance specifications needed for ... More

It soon became evident after the Shuttle's long-delayed first flight in 1981 that it could neither meet the estimated flight schedule nor achieve the original performance specifications needed for the heaviest national security payloads. Other problems plagued the program as well. The DoD abandoned its policy during the first two years of Shuttle operations of having backup expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) for all payloads and assigned the few remaining ones to launch specific satellites. Over the strenuous objections of NASA, it obtained permission in 1984 to build ten new launch vehicles for the heaviest payloads that the Shuttle could not carry. After the secure command and control system and the upper stage became operational, the DoD flew unclassified and classified payloads until the Challenger accident in 1986. The Challenger accident seriously disrupted the DoD's launch schedule, and it quickly began acquisition of several new classes of ELVs. Because performance-enhancing measures for the Shuttle were soon cancelled, the unused West Coast launch complex was mothballed. The DoD flew its last Shuttle missions from 1988 to 1992, presumably with payloads that could not fly on ELVs or that were too expensive to reconfigure to permit this. Its participation in the Shuttle program came to a premature end at an immense cost and with few benefits to show for it.Less

The saxophone as symbol and icon

Stephen Cottrell

in The Saxophone

This chapter examines the saxophone's status as a symbol and an icon within culture. From its inception, the instrument has been identified with modernity, innovation, and a sense of exploration and ... More

This chapter examines the saxophone's status as a symbol and an icon within culture. From its inception, the instrument has been identified with modernity, innovation, and a sense of exploration and enquiry. Its unusual shape and timbre were harnessed to great effect and have thus garnered it an audience whose minds were to view it as something new and exotic. The saxophone slowly and eventually penetrated art music genres later on, its supporters pushing the serious qualities of the instrument and its great contribution to music. Clay Smith was one who promoted this in the early 1900s, noting the saxophone as quintessentially American especially since it was perfected and improved in America. Its symbolic role began with astronaut Ron McNair, making it the first musical instrument to be taken into orbit on the space shuttle Challenger in February 1984. The chapter thus illustrates other examples of the saxophone's status and symbol in culture.Less

Astronauts: Reinventing the Right Stuff

Valerie Neal

in Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond: Redefining Humanity's Purpose in Space

The third chapter, “Astronauts: Reinventing the Right Stuff,” examines how the astronaut as icon embodied new meanings of spaceflight. A salient distinction of the shuttle era was the broadening, ... More

The third chapter, “Astronauts: Reinventing the Right Stuff,” examines how the astronaut as icon embodied new meanings of spaceflight. A salient distinction of the shuttle era was the broadening, diversity, and democratization of the astronaut corps through new roles and new selection criteria. The nature of the job (engineering and scientific research) contrasted with the public’s ingrained perception of astronauts as pilots, especially in the wake of the two shuttle tragedies. Two memes coexisted in a shifting balance: the astronaut as exceptional and heroic, and the astronaut as an extraordinarily capable “ordinary” person.Less

Judith Arlene Resnik (1949–1986)

Daniel R. Altschuler and Fernando J. Ballesteros

in The Women of the Moon: Tales of Science, Love, Sorrow, and Courage

This chapter focuses on the life of the American astronaut Judith Resnik, who died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Sharon Christa McAuliffe (1948–1986)

Daniel R. Altschuler and Fernando J. Ballesteros

in The Women of the Moon: Tales of Science, Love, Sorrow, and Courage

This chapter talks about the life of the Sharon Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who, when participating in the Teacher in Space program, died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Income Tax Evasion, the Death Penalty, the Environment, the AIDS Epidemic, Desegregation, and Voting and Employment Discrimination, 1980–1988

James M. Denham

in Fifty Years of Justice: A History of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

This chapter addresses a number of issues that found their way into the courts of the Middle District from 1980 to 1988. Included are income tax evasion, environmental and wrongful death litigation, ... More

This chapter addresses a number of issues that found their way into the courts of the Middle District from 1980 to 1988. Included are income tax evasion, environmental and wrongful death litigation, prison-overcrowding, and voting and employment discrimination. The chapter also chronicles some of the first handling of disputes arising out of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. In 1982 after Profitt v. Wainwright, the state of Florida resumed executions under the state’s new death penalty statutes. This chapter documents the increased burden the death penalty habeas litigation exerted on the court, and provides examples of several important cases. The chapter then covers desegregation litigation from 1968 to 1980. After summarizing relevant higher court cases since Swann, the litigation in Manatee, Orange, Marion, and Polk is discussed. The chapter then turns to employment and voting rights litigation the Middle District courts. Cases involving the City of Apopka, Florida, Lake County, Nassau County, and the City of Jacksonville are discussed.Less