Work
Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster Case Study
A project-management analysis of the Challenger disaster, focused on decision-making, risk management, and the conditions that allowed known concerns to be overridden.
Context
The Challenger disaster is a defining case in the consequences of technical uncertainty, organizational pressure, and weak risk governance. The report approaches it as a project-process and decision-making problem.
Approach
The case compared a project management office, group decision-support systems, and probabilistic risk assessment. It also examined risk identification, scope, time and cost constraints, and SQERT management: scope, quality, effort, risk, and time.
Outcome
Probabilistic risk assessment emerged as the strongest recommended framework because it could systematically model technical failure scenarios. The analysis also underscored the need for independent challenge, clear accountability, disciplined change control, and safety decisions that cannot be displaced by schedule pressure.
Original Work
This published copy has been redacted to remove personal identifiers.