Accountability in the Public Sector: Lessons from the Challenger Tragedy

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in mid-flight anld seven crew members lost their lives. The widely known details of that tragic event need not be retraced here. Opinion is growing, however, that the official explanations offered by the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (the Rogers Commission) fail to provide full answers to why the disaster occurred. We offer an alternative explanation which addresses institutional factors contributing to the shuttle accident.