| Posted by Ken Ramsley , Nov 14,2002,14:07 | Forum |
As each shuttle was tested to its limits, important lessons were recorded that were applied in the next prototype. Eventually, after enough experience, NASA could finally build Columbia, and with a shakedown mission or two, start to send significant payloads into orbit.
Things, of course, have not always gone NASA's way.
When Apollo 1 burned on the launch pad in 1967, killing all three astronauts aboard, the whole capsule was later disassembled under the careful direction of astronaut Frank Borman. Hundreds of errors were discovered and thousands of recommendations made.
Three years later, when an oxygen tank exploded during the flight of Apollo 13, much of the spacecraft continued to operate far beyond its expected limits, mainly because of how much experience had been applied from Borman's work. To this day it is widely believed within aerospace industry circles that without the lessons learned form Apollo 1, the men of Apollo 13 would never have made it back alive.
We may not like failure and we may find it extraordinarily painful at times, but designers should never ignore the opportunity to learn its lessons.