Risk and Exploration
“The goal of this Symposium is to engage in an open discussion about the issue of risk – identifying it, mitigating it, accepting it – all in the course of exploration. During this symposium, we want to examine the similarities between space exploration and other terrestrial expeditions, and examine how society accepts risk.”
Editor’s note: For the record, I donated my time to assist in the organization of this symposium and in the editing and preparation of these proceedings and was not compensated in any way by NASA. I thought this was an important topic – one that needed discussion – within and outside of NASA.
Editor’s rant note: I would urge all members of the media covering NASA – all of whom (apparently) consider themselves competent enough (in one way or another) to expound on the issue of acceptable risk to take the time to read the presentations contained in this volume. Rarely does anyone take the time to set the risks – and rewards – inherent in NASA’s exploration activities against the broader context of the risks that we and others take in our daily lives – risks we deem to be perfectly acceptable. Moreover, when set against the even broader context of the risks taken in history of exploration, NASA’s efforts are often vastly safer by far – even when all accidents are taken into account. Yet you would not get that impression from reading recent news and editorial accounts.
