Why did the space shuttle Challenger explode? Many people assume it was because of poorly-functioning O rings on the booster rocket. However, those O rings didnÆt send that ship up on a cold winterÆs morn. People didàö (Tognazzini, 1996).
When the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, speculation about the cause of the disaster was frenzied. The last thing anyone wanted to believe was that the tragedy could be the result of willful human negligence. However, extensive evidence supporting such a view came out immediately following the tragedy and continues to surface. The Challenger was launched into space despite a series of technical difficulties that delayed the launch several times and despite ominous warnings from senior technical staff. The decision-making that led to the tragedy and the ethics those decisions were grounded in are disturbing and illuminating.
ôFrom the beginningàShuttle Mission 51L was plagued by problems.ö (Greene, 2004). From the time the Challenger was first scheduled to lift off on January 22 until it was finally launched on January 28, liftoff was delayed several times for various reasons, culminating in the final delay due to icicles on the structure that supports the shuttle. All these delays gave NASA plenty of time to rethink the launch, and behind the scenes, two men were urgently recommending that it be halted.
Roger Boisjoly, an engineer with Morton Thiokol, Inc., the contractor that built the Challenger, wrote in-house memos prior to the disaster warning that the boosterÆs O-ring seals could cause an explosion. The night before the launch, Boisjoly recommended that the Challenger not be launched. Likewise, Richard C. Cook, a former senior analyst with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters in Washington recommended the launch be halted. ôThe O-ring problem was no secret among officials of the space agency and the Utah-based company....