Concluding Remarks

¶CONCLUDING REMARKS The success of the United States manned space-flight program has been, to a great extent, a direct result of the emphasis placed on safety by the management of the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (formerly the Manned Spacecraft Center).

¶The basic safety objective has been to identify hazards and to ensure that these hazards are either eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level. With the exception of the Apollo spacecraft 204 fire and perhaps the Apollo 13 abort, the hazards have been adequately identified and properly resolved.

¶The reorganization of the NASA Headquarters and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center safety efforts after the spacecraft 204 fire was necessary for the complex and expanded efforts of the Apollo Program. A greatly enhanced Safety Office visibility and comprehension of day-to-day safety status resulted in the reestablishment of a satisfactory approach to crew and mission safety. The fundamental change in organization that proved most effective was gathering the safety efforts under a single office that reported to the Center Director.

¶The establishment of formally documented hazard analyses for each mission was effective in identifying all significant hazards and assuring a satisfactory resolution of hazards at an appropriately high level in the center organization.

¶A safety program requires an adequate complement of qualified safety engineers, a free hand to make independent assessments, and the full support of management.

¶With these ingredients, an effective safety program is assured.

¶The Manned Flight Awareness Program, introduced early in the Apollo Program, wasa motivational tool used to achieve a high level of safety, reliability, and quality consciousness in all program participants. Its success was greatly enhanced by astronaut participation.

¶Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center National Aeronautics and Space Administration Houston, Texas, November 14, 1974 039-00-00-00-72