Columbia's Final Mission
On February 1, 2003, the Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and the seven astronauts on board lost their lives. This multimedia case explores Columbia's final mission from the perspective of six key managers and engineers associated with NASA's Space Shuttle Program.
After reviewing background information through an introductory video and interactive timeline, students launch into an application that replicates the desktop environment of the six real-life managers and engineers involved in decision-making during the period prior to Columbia's re-entry.
Each student is pre-assigned a particular role and, through a password system, enters the role-play application. Students review the protagonists' actual e-mails, meeting transcripts, and space agency documents. The student's challenge is to be prepared to play the role of the protagonist in a classroom reenactment of a critical Mission Management Team meeting that took place on Flight Day 8 (January 24, 2003).
The goal is for students to examine the organizational causes of the tragedy rather than focusing on the technical causes. Studying this disaster will help students understand how they can reduce the risk of serious failures in business organizations. They will learn about how they can behave as leaders and how they can build organizations that will be less susceptible to significant preventable failures.
For more information and to purchase Columbia's Final Mission multimedia case, go to HBS Publishing.
