Failure is not an option. (It's standard.) (was Re: OT: CD Jewel cases... Be careful who you buy them from.)

[Kenneth Brody]

On 9/24/2010 4:39 PM, Fairlight wrote:
[...]
> Apollo 1
> Apollo 13
> Challenger
> Columbia
>
> Accidents will happen, even with good gear, so it's possible to debate
> some of those.  But it's hard to dispute the poor engineering, design,
> and materials with Challenger's SRB O-rings (and every lucky flight
> pre-Challenger).  I actually have a NASA DVD with a documentary on the
> findings.

And sometimes, it takes second failure to save you from the first.

http://www.universetoday.com/62672/13-things-that-saved-apollo-13-part-5-unexplained-shutdown-of-the-saturn-v-center-engine/

     While oxygen tank number two on the Apollo 13 spacecraft was an
     accident waiting to happen, another problem on the Saturn V rocket
     could have destroyed Apollo 13 before it reached Earth orbit. During
     the second-stage boost, the center – or inboard — engine shut down
     two minutes early. The shutdown wasn’t a problem, as the other four
     engines were able to compensate for the loss by operating for an
     extra four minutes. But why the engine shut down is a mystery that
     may have saved the mission.

     “A catastrophic failure should have ensued,” said Apollo engineer
     Jerry Woodfill, “and would have, except for the unexplained behavior
     of the engine’s shutoff system. In fact, even the NASA Apollo 13
     accident report fails to deal with the seriousness of the event.”

     [...]

     Woodfill said that if the center engine had continued running a few
     more seconds, the oscillations may have destroyed the vehicle. “That
     engine was pounding horizontally up and down, a quarter foot, at the
     rate of 16 times a second,” he said. “The engine had become a two ton
     sledge hammer, a deadly pogo stick of destruction, putting enormous
     forces on the supporting structures.”

     [...]

-- 
Kenneth Brody