Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: the Decline of the Space Program

Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: The Decline of the Space Program

A Critical Analysis of the Change in Culture at NASA

Philip Tompkins in his book Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: The Decline of the Space Program takes a unique approach of the topic, writing from largely the first person point of view based on his own experiences with the Apollo program and observations about the changes in the overall space program leading up to the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Tompkins asserts that the decline of the space program is a result of a progressive decline in communication.

In general aviation, the training for the private pilot license always places safety above all else. Causes for accidents are referred to as a “chain of events,” meaning that many contributing factors lead up to an accident rather than one single event (Willits, Abbott, & Kailey 2007). The contributing factors are usually a result of human error rather than mechanical ones, but at any point while the “chain” of decisions is being made, a decision can be made to break the chain before the outcome of an accident. Looking at the decline of the space program from the private pilot’s perspective, the evidence is clear that it was a chain of events over a long period of time that resulted in the decline of the space program. At the center of this decline was the compromise of the historically core value of safety first.

NASA Culture & Politics

As an agency of the United States government, NASA is an inherently political organization. Even though the organization exists to engineer, research and develop programs to advance flight and space exploration, it is also subject to the funding priorities and whims of an elected Congress and the collective will of the American people. During the cold war, the U.S. was in an embarrassing position when the U.S.S.R. successfully launched the first satellite. While this was clearly a starting point for the space race of the 1960’s, the assassination of President...