The worst failure is one that results in the loss of life. When you're dealing with highly complex and dangerous projects like NASA, there's always a tremendous risk that needs to be tracked. On January 28, 1986, that risk became a horrible reality as the space shuttle Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launch.

The cause was a leak in one of the two solid rocket boosters that set off the main liquid fuel tank. The NASA investigation that followed said the failure was due to a faulty designed O-ring seal and the cold weather at launch, which allowed for the leak.

But it was not only a technical error that NASA discovered but human error. NASA officials went ahead with the launch even though engineers were concerned about the safety of the project. The engineers noted the risk of the O-ring, but their communications never traveled up to managers who could have delayed the launch to ensure the safety of the mission and its astronauts.

The post-implementation audit is vitally important in improving the practice and process of project management, yet it is always difficult to get senior management and the client to allocate the time to authorize and participate in these audits.

 

Research the Challenger Space Shuttle project and its lessons learned. Knowing that a post-implementation audit is important, what could have been done as the project manager on the Challenger Space Shuttle to figure out the cause of the explosion as part of the post-implementation audit and recommendations for future space shuttle projects to minimize the risk of future accidents?