Col. Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle pilot and commander, stressed the importance of organizational culture in her lecture March 25 to a crowded room of students, teachers and Wilmington residents. In the lecture, “Leadership Lessons from Apollo to Discovery,” Collins discussed her experiences as a leader and lessons learned from past mistakes.

Collins was the commander of the space shuttle Discovery, which was the first to fly after the Columbia disaster. During the lecture, she recounted what happened during in the aftermath of the Columbia accident.

During the 29 months between the crash and the Discovery mission, NASA set up an accident review board to determine the cause of the accident. What they found was that a piece of foam had fallen off of the fuel tank during take-off and put a hole in the shuttle. 

“The important thing here, the accident board said, is that just as much to blame as the hole in the wing was the organizational and cultural factors at NASA,” Collins said. 

Engineers had noticed that a piece of foam had hit the shuttle during its launch, so they made requests for photos to be taken to inspect for damage. The management, however, did not think there was sufficient evidence that a piece of foam could have caused damage, and the request was denied. This denial resulted in the explosion during the shuttle’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

During the lecture, Collins focused her discussion on the problems with organizational culture and how that played a large role in the Columbia accident. To increase communication between the different departments, one of the shuttle managers told his employees that everyone had to say something at every meeting or he would call on them to hear what was on their mind.

According to Collins, every organization can be improved if leaders practice active listening, have the humility to be open to new ideas and strive to be creative.

“Often people ask me: what was your formula for success? Why did that mission go so well after the accident?” Collins said. “I want to think young for the rest of my life. And I think by keeping an open mind, and really being open to the creative, with humility and creativity, that is the secret to success.”

Collins ended her lecture by showing photos taken from the space shuttle, encouraging the audience to guess what part of the Earth they were looking at. There were also clips of video from her mission, such as one that showed two members of her crew preparing to go on their first space walk outside of the ship.

“I went in the air lock to say goodbye and poke their visors and said, ‘Okay guys, you have six and a half hours. Be back for dinner!'” Collins said.

After the lecture, Collins answered questions and signed books for anyone who waited to see her.