The Challenger disaster: How a NASA tragedy led to a safer Artemis II

When Artemis II lifted off this past April, marking humanity’s return to the Moon, people across the world were captivated. It was a triumph decades in the making, but also shaped by painful loss due to a toxic organizational culture. In this episode of Tiny Matters, we trace the legacy of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on its 40th anniversary, unpacking what went wrong — from brittle O-rings to “normalization of deviance.” We hear firsthand from astronaut Terry Hart, who flew on Challenger less than two years before the accident, and from NASA’s acting Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance, Nathan Vassberg, about how Challenger — and later, Columbia — reshaped the way NASA thinks about risk, and how those lessons were applied to Artemis II. We also hear from Vanessa Bentley, professor of applied ethics who teaches a course dissecting the conflict between managers and engineers that led to the Challenger disaster.Send us your science facts, news, or other stories for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode. And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter!All Tiny Matters transcripts and references are available here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.