God Speed, NASA Testers

In everyday life, computers fail all the time in all kinds of wonderful and exciting ways. Thank goodness for this, because it keeps us testers employed. Like I always say, within these failures lies joy, at least to the destructive mind of the test professional.

That is, unless you work somewhere like NASA. When lives are on the line, I'd think that testers would feel relief at finding some nasty bugs, along with some fear about "What if we had missed this one?" or worse, "What if there is something else we missed?" That is why I have such respect for NASA testers.

That is also why I have to scoff at the person who sabotaged a computer that was about to travel on the space shuttle Endeavor to be installed in the space station. He did this by cutting a bunch of wires. What was this guy thinking? Did he really think this not-so subtle "bug" would get past the testers of NASA? We've all missed a bug or two in our days, but I mean, how poor a tester would you have to be to let this one get by you?

The only way this could happen would be if the testers went out drinking with the astronauts before running their tests. Two things about that. For one, if I was strapped into a space craft attached to giant tanks of highly explosive rocket fuel, all built by the lowest bidder, I might want to have a drink or three as well. Second, sometimes I find that having a drink before testing actually helps (six-pack test factor).

So, lets not worry too much about the astronauts knocking down a few the night before the launch. And lets really not worry at all about disgruntled contractors sabotaging the space shuttle, because we can be confident that the testers of NASA will find out. What NASA should really worry about is that their contractors are hiring people so stupid that this was the best idea they could come up with for sabotage.