Flight Rationale

Wayne Hale · 5 Aug 2024 · waynehale.wordpress.com ↗

3 korrents from this piece

Wayne Hale did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Spaceflight is not safe by any ordinary standard of safety, and pretending otherwise is what kills crews.

Their wordsBefore getting too far, remember this constant in space flight: it is not safe by any ordinary consideration of safety.

Interesting
Our reading
A declared root cause is a best guess, not a fact, and should be treated with suspicion.

Their wordsAlways take the determination of ‘root cause’ with a grain of salt.

Interesting
Our reading
Engineers will always ask for more data, so someone has to decide without certainty and own the risk to human life.

Their wordsThe engineers will always always always ask for more tests, more analysis, more time to get more information to be more certain of their conclusions.

Interesting