I work at a rocket company at 100% agree, and from what I have read think it is even worse!
- as mentioned, the cables should not be able to be connected wrong - different connectors, different cable lengths, etc.
- there should have be QA steps that ensured these were done correctly
- there should have been checkouts at the factory, the engine test or at the launch site to verify correct connectivity (or all three for expensive payloads).
This appears to be a rookie mistake that we had to learn early on at one of the rocket startups I worked at. There is no excuse to make this kind of mistake at a mature aerospace company, and based on what was shared, it is not cool that they would claim it was human error. It was design, process, checkout and lastly, human error. This appear to be scapegoating from everything I read and appears to be a systemic issue that management should step up and own

Or follow Dr Edwards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator#Brad_Edwards.27_proposal) recommendation and use a mobile sea platform, and locate it in an area with low probability lightning storms. If a storm is coming, simply move the platform. If orbital debris is coming at the cable, just move the platform.

Also allows for moving the platform extremely close to the equator without (a) having to deal with potentially unstable equatorial governments and (b) allowing for some independence from a specific countries politics.

brandido