Episode 7: Charles Camarda

It isn’t every day you get to meet a real-life astronaut! Dr Charles Camarda – (Charlie to his friends) was selected as an Astronaut Candidate in 1996 and flew as a Mission Specialist on STS-114, NASA’s Return-to-Flight mission immediately following the Columbia disaster of 2003, which claimed the lives of its seven crew. He was responsible for initiating several teams to successfully diagnose the cause of the Columbia tragedy and developing an in-orbit repair capability, used on successive Shuttle missions until the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. As well as being an Astronaut, Charlie is a research engineer, inventor, author, educator, and internationally recognized expert and speaker on engineering design, safety, organizational behavior, and education. He has over 60 technical publications, holds 9 patents, and over 20 national and international awards. He was inducted into the Air and Space Cradle of Aviation Museum’s Hall of Fame in 2017. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.