Charles Camarda

Dr. Charles Camarda is a 46-year NASA veteran with over 22 years of experience as a research engineer, 18 years as a NASA Astronaut who flew on STS-114, the return-to-flight mission following the Columbia disaster; and 13 years as a Senior Executive holding positions within the Agency as Director of Engineering at NASA Johnson Spaceflight Center, Deputy for Advanced Projects in the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, and Senior Advisor for Innovation and Engineering Development at NASA’s Langley Research Center prior to his retirement in 2018.

Post Columbia and prior to his launch on the next mission two and a half years later, Dr. Camarda was responsible for initiating and leading the teams which verified the technical cause of the accident and for developing the technology which he flew on his return-to-flight mission to repair his spaceship in the event of another debris strike.

Post Columbia, Dr. Camarda studied the behaviors of high performing teams, the research culture, and their relationship to the cause(s) and/or prevention of accidents. His unique experience has allowed him to develop a new theory which he believes can diagnose systemic technical and behavioral flaws early and prevent future tragedies.

He is an adjunct professor at several universities, has developed an innovative conceptual engineering design pedagogy called ICED which he has taught to NASA engineers, and which forms the basis for his 501 (c)(3) educational nonprofit called the Epic Education Foundation which he founded to democratize STEM/STEAM education for students of all ages around the world.

Dr. Camarda is an inventor, author, educator, and internationally recognized invited speaker on subjects related to engineering, engineering design, innovation, safety, organizational behavior, and education. He has over 60 technical publications, holds 9 patents, and over 20 national and international awards. His recent book “Mission Out of Control: An Astronaut’s Odyssey to Fix High-Risk Organizations and Prevent Tragedy” discusses how great organizations like NASA can lose their way and develop a toxic culture and what it takes to transform itself back to a high-performance organization.