Video Library

At 7:45 p.m. on April 20, 2010, four British Petroleum and Transocean VIP’s landed aboard Deepwater Horizon for a Management Visibility Tour. The agenda: to credit the crew for 7 years with no lost-time injuries, and to check workplace conditions for occupational hazards found recently on other rigs. Seven hours later, the worst oil rig blowout and offshore spill in U.S. history transpired. Had there been focus on process safety, in addition to Institutional Safety, the blowout may have been averted. 

From the Challenger and Columbia disasters, to the Costa Concordia running aground, to the recent ISS EVA 23 event, all have involved normalization of deviance and groupthink. Understanding the symptoms of these two conditions can help us plan for them, avoid them and stop them.

The Safety and Mission Success Review (SMSR) video provides an introduction to the SMSR, which is a voice-recorded, predecisional briefing co-chaired by the NASA chief of Safety and Mission Assurance and the NASA chief engineer. The purpose of the SMSR is to independently assess the readiness to proceed with a NASA mission, both human and robotic, as well as test flights and demonstrations of commercially developed launch vehicles and spacecraft.

It doesn't have to be spectacular to hurt. A lot of people get hurt doing unspectacular things, such as preparing food, cutting across lawns, tripping on floor mats and lifting and moving objects. People also get hurt when they are unfamiliar with their workplace and the associated hazards.

What NASA does is risky. When we bring new people on board, it is imperative that we train them in general safety practices and specific hazards of the job and environment. Managers need to be sure that all employees are aware of what they need to do to work safely. All NASA employees need to know what to do in an emergency and how to report safety concerns. Preventing unspectacular mishaps will help prevent larger and more serious mishaps.

Technical Authorities in engineering, safety and mission assurance, and health and medical all play an important role in NASA's decision-making processes. Hear Administrator Charles Bolden deliver this month's Safety Message on the importance of Technical Authority.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office (MEO), provides expert insight on the agency's meteoroid work in this series of Knowledge Bytes. Cooke explains what the Meteoroid Environments Office does, its responsibilities and the challenges that it faces.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office (MEO), provides expert insight on the agency's meteoroid work in this series of Knowledge Bytes. Cooke explains how meteor shower forecasting works and how it helps protect astronauts and spacecrafts.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office (MEO), provides expert insight on the agency's meteoroid work in this series of Knowledge Bytes. Cooke explains the background on the Chelyabinsk fireball that appeared over Russia in 2013 and how it demonstrated the danger of smaller meteorites.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office (MEO), provides expert insight on the agency's meteoroid work in this series of Knowledge Bytes. Cooke explains how the Leonid meteor showers of 1998-2002 led to the development of meteor shower forecasting.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office (MEO), provides expert insight on the agency's meteoroid work in this series of Knowledge Bytes. Cooke tells the story of an astronaut on the International Space Station who photographed the Lyrid meteors.