Here, we examine the failures that occur during test fligths before the system goes into production or is ready for its maiden voyage – be it in the air or space. Other articles have covered disasters during actual missions (like Apollo 13) which weren’t test flights. Still, even such operational failures are ultimately due to a lack of test flights or maintenance issues – such as in the case the Apollo 13 failure.
John Blyler is a Design News senior editor, covering the electronics and advanced manufacturing spaces. With a BS in Engineering Physics and an MS in Electrical Engineering, he has years of hardware-software-network systems experience as an editor and engineer within the advanced manufacturing, IoT and semiconductor industries. John has co-authored books related to system engineering and electronics for IEEE, Wiley, and Elsevier.
