The term “go fever” is used in the space industry to describe a push to finish a project, sometimes at the cost of safety. A lot of things contribute to go fever, ranging from pressure from government officials to complete a target goal to a genuine desire to see a project through to completion, but it can have dangerous consequences. Some more spectacular examples of the cost of go fever include the Apollo One Fire, the near loss of Apollo 13, the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, and the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Go fever is certainly not unique to the space industry; many industries experience similar pressure to complete projects, and when paired with a willingness to overlook dangers and safety concerns, the result can sometimes be tragic. The space industry perhaps illustrates go fever more elegantly than other industries, thanks to an almost universal interest in space and in getting people into space; decades after humans landed on the moon, people eagerly follow the launch of space shuttles and hail astronauts as heroes. The loss of spacecraft is not simply viewed as a setback to the space industry: it is also treated as a national loss.

Agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have made an attempt to guard themselves against go fever. Before the launch of any spacecraft, an extensive team evaluates the situation, and the launch will be canceled if the team has concerns. However, the pressure to go through with the launch anyway can be quite intense. Launch schedules are extremely complicated, and a decision to scratch a launch can result in complete disruption for months or years to come. The decision to cancel a launch is also expensive, and this can be another factor in go fever.

Some people use the rush to the moon in the 1960s to illustrate go fever at its height. The moon race was made even more complex because it was bound up in Cold War rivalries between the United States and Russia, and when American President Kennedy declared that humans would be walking on the moon within the decade in the early 1960s, the pressure was on. The resulting go fever caught numerous scientists and other professionals, who labored on overtime for years so that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could step onto the moon in 1969.

One of the best ways to guard against go fever in any industry is to set up several independent teams to assess a project at various stages to ensure that it is still safe and practical. By isolating the teams from each other and from pressure from above, people can be assured that it is safe to proceed on a project with an ambitious goal.