The Vision for Space Exploration Old Lessons Apply in the New World C. Herbert Shivers, PhD, PE, CSP Deputy Director Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center Presented to the Conference on Quality in the Space and Defense Industries 2007 Cape Canaveral, Florida March, 2007

Part One - Panel Introduction – Apollo Lessons

NASA Evolved from Saturn to Shuttle to Ares

Safe Exploration is Still the Goal

Dr. Eberhard Rees –Dr. Rees succeeded Dr. Von Braun as Director of Marshall Space Flight Center (March 1, Jan. 19, 1973 ) –Dr. Rees spoke to The World Management Congress in Munich in 1972 –Dr. Rees spoke words that are as true today as they were then –We do well to remember

Planning To Assure effective program execution: “A superior planning effort without diligent planning – especially systems planning – right from the start, any project is doomed sooner or later to run into most serious difficulties.” Dr. Eberhard Rees

Significance of Planning “We had great difficulties in finding technical experts who understood the value of planning. For the military, strategic planning is a matter of course. The same is true for any commercial undertaking where to neglect planning is to court bankruptcy. Why it is so hard to introduce proper planning into project and system management of projects of a more scientific nature is perplexing to me.” Dr. Eberhard Rees

Cost of Quality “The program management permits faulty components to enter the system – due to lack of quality control and testing – the components would only be detected in overall checkouts. And finally, unrealistically short time schedules endanger the quality of the product and cost control, whereas long, drawn-out time plans increase total project cost.” Dr. Eberhard Rees The Trade:

Risk Balance There has to be an optimum balance among technical performance, time schedule and cost. In the Apollo Program, this balance was deliberately shifted toward technical performance and time schedule. “There has to be an optimum balance among technical performance, time schedule and cost. In the Apollo Program, this balance was deliberately shifted toward technical performance and time schedule.” Dr. Eberhard Rees

Vigilance –“If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, then chronic unease is the price of safety.” Professor James Reason (2005, p 37) –One might just as well say, “quality”

SSE and Quality Engineering Pre-design System Safety, “Are the requirements inclusive, correct and being correctly implemented?” System focused perspective Quality, “Are the requirements inclusive, correct and being correctly implemented?” System focused perspective

SSE and Quality Engineering Post-design System Safety, “Was the specification correct and what happens if the system meets or doesn’t meet the specification?” All failures don’t create hazards, all hazards aren’t failure based, analyze interactions instead of single components Quality, “Does the system as built meet its specification?” Component failure focused

Accident Causation –The focus of accident causation has broadened over the years: – Hardware and software failures (1950’s to present) –Unsafe acts, errors and violations (1970’s to present) –System and cultural issues (1980’s to present) (James Reason, 2006) Quality and System Safety both are instrumental in the prevention process