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Murphy's Law Rules NASA

Posted by michael on from the cat-lands-butter-side-down dept.

3x37 writes "James Oberg, former long-time NASA operations employee, now journalist, wrote an MSNBC article about the reality of Murphy's Law at NASA. Interesting that the incident that sparked Murphy's Law over 50 years ago had a nearly identical cause as the Genesis probe failure. The conclusion: Human error is an inevitable input to any complex endeavor. Either you manage and design around it or fail. NASA management still often chooses the latter."

3 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Funny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Funny, that contradicts this report.

  2. Bullsh^H^H^H by lastmachine · · Score: -1, Troll
    The Genesis Probe failed due to the use of Protomatter in the Matrix.

    Now try to imagine Keanu Shatner..."DU-U-U-UDE! ... DU-U-U-U-U-U-UDE!!!"

  3. Problems are due to political correctness. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    With the sickening trend of changing qualifications to include race/ethnicity/gender, it's no surprise that they can't get the job right.

    Back in the Mercury-Apollo days, NASA only hired the ELITE. They were the best candidate for the job, with the only qualification being their intelligence and skill for that task.

    Such a team could no longer be formed because of the PC trend. Social pressure wouldn't allow it. They'd be called racist and insensitive for not hiring employees based on Affirmative Action hiring practices.

    Where they used to pick the best damn person for X task, they now have to pick a candidate that satisfies other groups' demand for diversity. Diversity wouldn't be bad if you picked the elite, and then (and only then) looked who comprised that group and respected them for who they are. Nowadays, there is demand for candidates who fill a race/ethnicity/gender requirement to satisfy what people see as an image problem. Instead of hiring the best mission control lead that they can find, there might be pressure to find a flight control lead who is of X race, or a mission planner who is of Y gender.

    There used to be diversity in NASA but you were assured that they were the best that could be chosen. Now, unfortunately, NASA hires candidates based on demand for a "diverse image".

    My suggestion: This is rocket science, not a Microsoft commercial. Choose people based on ability alone and forget about all other factors.