Safety and Reliability in the Human Spaceflight Program

Article

“Safety and Reliability in the Human Spaceflight Program” by Michael L. Ciancone, Roger D. Launius, and Howard E. McCurdy
Published in Quest Volume: 31 #1 (2024)

Abstract

The apparent risks of spaceflight prompted early human flight engineers to adopt a flight test mentality toward their work. With the arrival of the Space Shuttle, attention turned toward achieving reliability through routine flight. Sociologists warned that the management of high technology undertakings like spaceflight required contradictory techniques, making accidents inevitable. Managers of the Orion spacecraft program are seeking to overcome this limitation by merging “top down” safety techniques with “bottom up” reliability methods to manage risk in the upcoming lunar-Mars flight programs.

Citation

Ciancone, Michael L., Roger D. Launius, and Howard E. McCurdy. “Safety and Reliability in the Human Spaceflight Program.” Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 31, no. 1 (2024): 21-28.