The Human Factor

In the high-stakes arena of outer space, the smallest human error can have huge consequences, and as NASA has discovered over the decades, nobody—no matter how well they’re trained—is perfect. When mistakes happen, it’s up to the astronauts and the ground teams at Mission Control to prevent the mishaps from turning into deadly disasters. Witness some of space exploration’s most costly miscalculations and narrow escapes, involving a stripped screw, a distracted spacecraft pilot, a botched re-entry, and a malfunctioning $19 million toilet.