They succumbed to groupthink, as there was a lack of communication among NASA directorates, and lack of attention, as critical engineering milestones failed to take into account the fact that three people would be flying entirely new spacecraft. The decision-makers within Project Apollo were focused on their deadline, and no one dared do anything to delay the program. In one stunning example from documents from the National Archives and the NASA History Division, a subcontractor on the project had warned a NASA manager that the risk of fire would be “better considered now than by the Monday morning quarterbacks.” These included people who had strong influence in the space program, such as Wernher von Braun, then director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, and Air Force General Sam Phillips, then director of Project Apollo. Several people had raised concerns about the work quality of prime contractor North American Aviation (NAA) and the risk of fire. The accident surprised the American public and many within NASA and exposed how the agency was unprepared to build more complex spacecraft. NASA was not yet nine years old when a fire in the Apollo 1 command module killed three crew members in 1967. Still, some NASA staffers, including a whistleblower to whom we have spoken, believe the agency has a long way to go. It’s our hope that NASA will step up to the task. The agency needs to ensure that reporting mechanisms are in working, responsive order and that managers can and will act on safety concerns. To that end, NASA needs to make it possible for agency employees and contractors to point out possible program weaknesses without fear of reprisal. In the aftermath of these catastrophes, NASA has repeatedly shifted its approach to safety, which is commendable, but often the agency’s people have ignored red flags and reports that could have prevented astronaut deaths. The world met the crew of the planned Artemis II mission in early April and celebrated an upcoming 10-day voyage that should both stir nostalgia and fuel a new generation’s love of crewed spaceflight.īut after multiple space catastrophes in the past 60 years, Project Artemis needs to exemplify NASA’s commitment to safety when taking humans out of Earth’s atmosphere. is once again sending people to the moon.
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