The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began as a civilian space exploration program with the role of dominating space exploration for the United States. The program's name comes from the fact that NASA was established in 1958 and by 1969 the Apollo crew had walked on the moon. However, due to budgetary constraints, the program was folded into the Air Force. In 1970, Nixon approved the Space Transportation System (STS). The shuttle program represents the first steps toward becoming a dominant force in space exploration. A new fuel system was developed to help reduce costs, consisting of a mixture of solid and liquid fuel system. This created a three-part flight assembly including the rocket booster, external fuel tank and orbiter. This new system allowed NASA to reuse the orbiter which became known as the Shuttle. This new flight system required teams from multiple organizations to collaborate, and each area played a key role in the success or failure of the space program. Morton Thiokol won the contract to build the solid rocket boosters in Utah and ship them to Florida for assembly. The SRBs were 149 feet long and weighed two million pounds (Edmondson, 2003). The design depended on O-rings to seal the joints between components to eliminate gas leaks during takeoff, blowing, and to reduce joint rotation. NASA was tasked with developing the shuttle that would serve as a mode of transportation for the crew, experiments, and items needed for delivery to space. This reusable model could then return to Earth and be sent back into space by attaching the fuel systems manufactured by Thiokol. Morton Thiokol had problems with the design of SRBs from the start. In 1977, it was discovered that joint rotation was not a...... middle of paper ......y (2003). Group process in the Challenger launch decision. Harvard Business School, 356-376Gerstein, MS and Shaw, RB (2008). Organizational standards. People & Strategy, 31(1), 47-54.Jackson, R., Wood, C. and Zboja, J. (2013): The Dissolution of Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Comprehensive Review and Model. Journal of Business Ethics, 116 (2), 233-250. Management of group-level factors and social processes. (nd). Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net/mba/SectionFramework.aspx?SectionID=654O'Toole, J., and Bennis, W. (2009). What's needed next: A culture of candor. Harvard Business Review, 87(6), 54-61Shore, B. (2008). Systematic bias and the culture of project failure. Project Management Journal, 29(4),5-16Von Bergen, Jr., CW & Kirk, RJ (1978) Groupthink: Where too many heads spoil decision making. Management Review, 67(3), 44