Safety Culture in the News

Safety Culture in the News

ISS Mishap a Sign That NASA's Safety Culture Is Slipping, Warns Former Mission Controller

gizmodo.com/iss-misha…

Disaster nearly struck the International Space Station last week when a Russian module unexpectedly fired its thrusters shortly after docking. A retired space engineer is now sounding the alarm, saying NASA’s safety culture is showing signs of decay and that an independent investigation is necessary.

James Oberg is not one to hold back.

The retired “rocket scientist” and mission controller worked at NASA from 1975 to 1997, where he served as an expert on orbital rendezvous. His expansive knowledge of the Russian and Chinese space programs has led him to testify before Congress on several occasions, and his 2002 book, Star-Crossed Orbits, exposed the shortcomings that existed in the U.S.-Russian relationship while the ISS was under development.

Naturally, the recent incident with the ISS caught Oberg’s attention, prompting him to write a guest post for IEEE Spectrum.

Related Stories NASA’s Year-Long Simulated Mission to Mars Would Probably Kick Your Ass Launch of Boeing’s Starliner Delayed Indefinitely Due to Vexing Technical Glitch SpaceX Starship Stacking Produces the Tallest Rocket Ever Built “While the proximate cause of the incident is still being unravelled, there are worrisome signs that NASA may be repeating some of the lapses that lead to the loss of the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles and their crews,” he wrote. “And because political pressures seem to be driving much of the problem, only an independent investigation with serious political heft can reverse any erosion in safety culture.”