But then you take the next step up and you’re talking about safety, you’re talking about risk, you’re talking about risk analysis, risk management. You’re talking about culture, talking about decision-making. Those are things that I call the next-level issues, which the board dealt with. Obviously the personal issues were devastating, but there wasn’t anything that could be done at that point about that. The astronauts had been lost. So the question was to identify the deeper reasons why such an accident would occur and to make those reasons public.
AeroAstro: So, what do you want to do next?
One thing that was interesting about it was the defensiveness of NASA. We had a lot of meetings with NASA and there was a lot of pounding on the table. But we had a very strong board and because we were who we were, we always won. We insisted on having our own way, in spite of the fact that NASA didn’t want us to be there; they didn’t want us to be in charge; they didn’t want us to investigate this area; they did not want us to conduct a test. They said, “We think you’re just wasting money and we really don’t want you to do this. We’ll agree with you that the foam put a hole in the shuttle.” But, as I say, we just pounded on the table, I mean literally pounded on the table. We had to remove some people from the NASA management chain, move them off. We didn’t fire them, we just moved them off to a different part of the organization because we said they had been part of the management structure that led to the accident and there was no way in the world we were going to have to report to them or interact with them or have them influence the investigation. So there was a lot of real insistence on our part that we were in charge, and we were going to run this investigation. We had some very, very strong people, including me.
AeroAstro: I can’t picture you retiring, just sitting in a chair or playing shuffleboard.
Widnall: That’s an interesting question. At this point in my career I’m really enjoying teaching. Enjoying working with the undergraduates. I’m not expecting any enormous breakthroughs at this point. I’m at an age where I really ought to be thinking about retiring.
AeroAstro: Are you thinking about retiring? Widnall: Yeah, sure. You have to think about retiring.
Widnall: No, I can’t either. That’s why I’m still uncertain about it.
AeroAstro: What would you like to do when you retire? Widnall: I don’t know. That’s a big step. Whether I want to do more traveling or get involved with something on the outside. I don’t know. That’s an enormous step.
AeroAstro: It’s hard to see you doing something other than engineering. Widnall: Yes. It’d be a real change of lifestyle, and I’m not to a point where I can imagine doing that! WILLIAM LITANT is the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department communications director. He may be reached at wlitant@mit.edu.
Faculty interview: a visit with Dr. Sheila Widnall
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