Knowledge Category: Case Studies

On June 6, 1971, three cosmonauts rose to orbit aboard Soyuz-11 to dock with Salyut, the world’s first space station. Acclaim awaited the crew as they began re-entry on June 30. Teams deployed to the descent site in Kazakhstan, arriving in time to observe an apparent flawless landing. Upon opening the Soyuz’ hatch, rescuers found all three crewmembers still in their seats, lifeless. The national outpouring of grief reportedly matched U.S. sorrow following President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

A seminal event in the history of human spaceflight occurred on the evening of Jan. 27, 1967, at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) when a fire ignited inside the Apollo 204 spacecraft during ground-test activities. The 100 percent oxygen atmosphere, flammable materials and a suspected electrical short created a fire that quickly became an inferno. Virgil Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee (the prime crewmembers for Apollo mission AS- 204, later designated Apollo 1) perished in the flames.

The four-legged Apollo Lunar Modules (LMs) utilized a complex rocket Apollo astronauts realized they needed new piloting skills that were needed to fly and land the Apollo LM in the lunar environment.

In an extraordinary display of international cooperation during the height of the Cold War between the United States and former Soviet Union, television viewers around the globe tuned in July 17, 1975 to witness Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) astronauts and cosmonauts shaking hands between their docked, orbiting spacecraft. The Soyuz crew undocked their spacecraft and landed in Russia on July 21. The Apollo crew continued on-board experiments until their July 24 re-entry. During descent, the crew did not activate the Apollo’s Earth Landing System (ELS) at the correct altitude. As a result, toxic propellant fumes entered the Command Module (CM) through open cabin pressurization valves before splashdown, threatening the lives of America’s first orbital ambassadors.

The Apollo and Skylab Programs each suffered major setbacks and losses. These events, such as the Apollo 1 fire, the Apollo 13 oxygen tank explosion, and the Skylab 1 micrometeoroid shield loss, lesser-known crises were averted during the 21 missions that utilized the Apollo spacecraft. During Apollo 10 and Skylab 4, crews suffered from human factors related incidents.

May 14, 1973, Skylab soared into Low-Earth Orbit from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on a modified Saturn V (S-V) rocket. Whereas the launch of Skylab 1 was unmanned, Skylab 2, planned for launch the following day on May 15, would deliver a three-man crew to the station. However, once Skylab was in orbit and controllers initiated start-up procedures, it became apparent that the vehicle suffered damage during launch. Skylab 2 was postponed for 10 days. During those dire days, Skylab engineers scrambled to understand what went wrong and what they would do to fix it.

Ten years after the inflight breakup of Space Shuttle Columbia Space Transportation System Mission (STS-107), the memory of those astronauts — and of Apollo 204 in 1967 and Challenger in 1986 — who died in the line of service continues to serve as a reminder to the agency.

Wayne Hale’s Ten Rules for Engineering for Space is the focus of Remembrance Day 2014. As former NASA Flight Director and Space Shuttle Program Manager, Hale has compiled a list of lessons learned based on the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia disasters.

NASA has undertaken countless firsts; breaking new ground in human space flight. Those firsts also extend to various management and business practices. As human space flight missions became more complex and longer in duration, it became clear to leadership that the crews needed to stay focused on their missions versus the needs of day-to-day life on earth. A unique form of support was needed.