How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams

EPILOGUE

Hubble’s Legacy

The Hubble mirror flaw has become a distant memory. Heroic astronauts have since visited Hubble four times to correct for the flawed mirror, replace aging components, and install new, advanced instrumentation. Hubble is now in its 18th year of productive scientific research. More than 3,500 technical publications have reported Hubble results, according to Hubblesite.org, making it one of the most profoundly successful scientific instruments in history. Science results frequently grace the front pages of newspapers all around the world. The telescope has exceeded all our expectations!

It is my earnest belief that, in the final analysis, the Hubble mirror flaw was a good thing for me. I doubt that I would have been motivated to develop the 4-D System any other way. If the 4-D System prevents future space accidents, particularly those that take lives, the flaw was a net good for us all.

I was having lunch in Australia with the human resources director for NASA’s Canberra Tracking Station. She said to me, “Your work is wonderful. However, do you know that you are asking people to behave in unnatural ways? I, for example, love the violence in American football.” This is exactly the point. Most would agree that our social evolution has not kept pace with technological progress.

It seems to me that humanity is at a crossroads. Pick your favorite risk: the environment, nuclear attack, avian flu, mass starvation, and so on. We have a choice. We can choose ...