+ Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. + Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or + test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about + the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our + work. “Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The + simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every + area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had + any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, ‘Dammit, stop!’ I don’t + know what Thompson’s committee will find as the cause, but I know what I + find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job. We were + rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, + when in our hearts we knew it would take a miracle. We were pushing the + schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did. “From this + day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: ‘Tough’ and + ‘Competent.’ Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what + we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every + time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. + Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be + found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be + perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and + the first thing you will do there is to write ‘Tough and Competent’ on + your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the + room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and + Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission + Control. +
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