Mission Out of Control

After the deaths of his friends and colleagues aboard Columbia, a disaster that could have been avoided, Astronaut Charlie Camarda and his fellow crewmates worked diligently through their grief and many stress-filled days to return the United States to space on the next shuttle flight. This allowed NASA to once more take on the prideful mantle of success but only after paying a very steep price, a price that seems at times to have been already forgotten but may have to be paid again unless there are changes within both the organizational structure and culture of the agency.

Astronaut Dr. Charles Camarda has uncovered a recurring cause of accidents that no one has articulated yet—loss of a research culture that places a premium on learning and the quest for knowledge and what that means. He shows how to develop high-performing teams and networks of such research teams to solve anomalies rapidly, which can help prevent catastrophes in complex high-risk/high-reliability organizations.

What People Say

“The book does a remarkable job of pulling together every possible relevant concept and evidence from organizational research to support the goal of helping organizations get better.”—DR. AMY EDMONDSON NOVARTIS, Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School, author of the Fearless Organization (Wiley 2019) and several case studies on Columbia, Challenger and safety cultures

“Dr. Camarda describes a near miss not as a success but a ‘system failure’—Many Fire_ghters would not have died or been seriously injured over my 32 year FDNY career if the ‘Cultures’ and ‘Biases’ he teaches us about in his book were understood.”—COMMISSIONER THOMAS VON ESSEN, Commissioner of FDNY during 9/11 Tragedy, author Strong of Heart, Harper Collins, 2002

“Charles Camarda has drawn on his rich personal experience at NASA and extensive research to describe how a high-risk organization can build an elective safety culture, as well as how such a culture can erode over time. Managers in any high-risk environment can learn from this book.” —PROF. MICHAEL ROBERTO, Bryant University, author, Unlocking Creativity, Assistant Professor Harvard Business School, and Visiting Assistant Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business

“As an educational leader dedicated to fostering a culture of learning and growth, I found Dr. Charles J. Camarda’s Mission Out of Control to be both deeply inspiring and highly relevant. Drawing on his extraordinary career at NASA, Dr. Camarda underscores the vital importance of cultivating a culture that prioritizes learning and innovation—principles that resonate profoundly in the field of education. Just as he identifies the systemic flaws that can lead to catastrophic failures in high-risk organizations, we, as educators, must similarly recognize and address cultural and structural barriers to ensure the success and safety of our students and staff. His insights into building high-performing teams and solving complex challenges offer a powerful framework that leaders in any field, including education, can adapt to create lasting positive change. This book is a call to action for all leaders committed to shaping resilient, forward-thinking organizations.”– Dr. Joe Famularo, Educational Leader, NYS Superintendent of the Year, best-selling author of IOU Life Leadership