written on October 16, 2026, read December 2017
There are images of events that have burned themselves indelibly into my memory: the falling towers on September 11, the crumpled ICE train at Eschede. And that image of the “major malfunction” on January 28, 1986: the Space Shuttle “Challenger”, having just exploded. The cloud at the end of the flight, out of which the two solid rocket boosters kept flying, out of control.
This book is an inside view. What happened back then. The conditions that led up to the disaster. What came after, both technically and politically. Written by the man who, the day before, refused to sign off that everything was in order for the flight.
Again and again, a picture emerges that is completely different from the one you have in mind if you’ve read Gene Kranz’s “Failure Is Not an Option” first (I’ll write about that one too). On one side, the NASA that, after the Apollo 1 fire, committed itself to Kranz’s dictum of “tough and competent”. On the other, an organization that in January 1986 launched a shuttle with a teacher on board. And the problem that caused the disaster was well known. Why it happened anyway, despite that knowledge, and what lessons should be drawn from it, is perhaps the core message of this book.
PS: This book was my Christmas reading in 2017. Yep, I really do enjoy light holiday fare. I’ve read the book in 2017 on an ebook reader. In 2021 i purchased a paper copy of it.
This is not a review, and I don't hand out stars either. It is part of my annotated reading list. Whatever first comes to mind when I pick up the book. More about it in this blog post.