NASA And the Space Shuttle Booster Rockets

CASE 5.19
NASA And the Space Shuttle Booster Rockets
Morton Thiokol, Icn., is an aerospace company, manufacture the solid-propellant rocket motor for Peacekeeper missile and the missiles on Trident nuclear submarines. Thiokol also worked carefully with National Aeronaustics and Space Administration (NASA) in developing the challenger, one of NASA’s reusable space shuttles.
Morton Thiokol operated as manufacturer for booster used to launch the challenger. NASA had a special launch scheduled of the challenger for January 1986, the launch was highly publicized because NASA had conducted a nationwide search for a teacher to send on the flight.
On the scheduled launch day, January 28, 1986, the weather was cloudy and cold, the launch had already been delayed several times, but NASA official still contacted Thiokol engineers in Utah to discuss weather the shuttle should be launched in such cold weather. In Thiokol’s contract with NASA the temperature was between 400 F and 900 F. The temperature at Cape Canaveral at that January morning was below 300 F, the launch of challenger proceeded nevertheless.
Two of the Thiokol engineers involved in the launch, Allan Mcdonald and Roger Boisjoly, then testified that had opposed the launch. In October 1985, Boisjoly presented the O-ring issue at a conference of the society of Automotive Engineers and requested suggestion for resolution. On January 27, 1986 the day before the launch, Boisjoly attempted to halt the launch. Mr. McDonald also offered his insights to a NASA group and Thiokol engineer. However, Four Thiokol managers including Lund, voted unammously to recommend the launch. The managers then developed the following revised recommendation. Engineers were excluded from the final decision and the development of this findings.
After the decision was made, Boisjoly returned to his office and wrote in his journal “ He sincerelly hope this launch doesn’t result in a catastrophe. He personally don’t agree with some of statements made in Joe Kilminister’s (Kilminister was one of the four Thiokol managers who voted to recommend the launch)”.
The challenger launch at the low temperature caused the seals at the booster rocket joints to fail and exploded, killing Christa McAuliffe and the six astronauts on board. The challenger incident resulted more from human error than mechanical error. The decision to launch should have been referred to headquarters. Both Boisjoly and McDonald testified before the presidential panel regarding their opposition to the launch and decision of their managers to override their recommendation. Both Boisjoly and McDonald also testified that following their expressed opposition to the launch and their willingness to come forwar, they had been isolated from NASA and subsequently demoted. Currently, Mr.Boisjoly operates a consulting firm in Mesa, Arizona. He speaks frequently on business ethics to professional organizations and companies.