Roger Boisjoly dies at 73; engineer tried to halt Challenger launch

Los Angeles Times ^ | February 7, 2012 | Ralph Vartabedian

[EveningStar]

The night before the 1986 explosion, Boisjoly and four others argued that joints in the shuttle's boosters couldn't withstand a cold-weather launch.

[EveningStar]

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[Red Badger]

RIP, sir.
At least you tried...................

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

Roger (and Amen) that, Red Badger.

[stormer]

The night of the accident I was listening to Larry King on the radio and they were discussing what had happened. A caller from Utah got on and said “I know what happened. The weather, the weather, the weather.” King hung up on him and made some crack about the institution letting that guy make one phone call a week. I knew at the time that Morton Thiokol was based in Utah, and I wondered if it was some engineer that knew what was going on. Wonder if it was this guy...

[Da Coyote]

That middle pic was taken when Boeing’s chief test pilot did an aileron roll in one of the original 707 test birds, I believe.

Being a Boeing machine, the maneuver probably didn’t even come close to the plane’s limits.

Neat! However, the good old T-38 could do two rolls/second with full sidestick deflection.

Now, THAT was a kick!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Maaan, I remember that clear as day as if it happened last week. I was working at JFK airport in New York city at the time and there was a blizzard going on, and Fedex (or Federal express as it was known at the time) had crashed one of their planes into a loader-lifter while the plane was being marshalled in. The visibility was zero and the left wing got ripped off. And as that was being investigated, we had the TV on in the office and all you saw was that video of the smoke and the pieces of the shuttle flying off into the sky. And one of my co-workers said: “And Fedex thinks they got problems”. Not a day to be flying.

[EveningStar]

NYT article: Roger Boisjoly, 73, Dies; Warned of Shuttle Danger

Wikipedia article

[Moonman62]

Their pleas and technical theories were rejected by senior managers at the company and NASA, who told them they had failed to prove their case and that the shuttle would be launched in freezing temperatures the next morning. It was among the great engineering miscalculations in history.

I disagree. It was one of the great management screw ups of all time.

According to the article, management persisted in ruining the career of Boisjoly and at least one of the other engineers.

[Fresh Wind]

I can only imagine what torture he went through watching the Challenger explode.

I know very well what happens when you try to present unpleasant facts to managers, and what happens when they refuse to listen to you and take political expedience over sound engineering judgement.

It my case, it wasn’t a matter of life and death or billions of dollars, but the failure I warned about was just as real, and it came to pass just as I predicted.

Rest in peace, Mr. Boisjoly.

[ctdonath2]

In “Visual Explanations” http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_visex Edward Tufte wrote a must-read analysis of why admonitions to postpone the launch were ignored.

[Yorlik803]

Like the Intel Officer in the British army who tried to tell them the Germans were in force around Arnham but the brits still went on with Operation Market Garden. Monty wanted the headlines and ended up destroying the Britsh Paras.
He ended up having a nervious breakdown....

[Nepeta]

I know very well what happens when you try to present unpleasant facts to managers, and what happens when they refuse to listen to you and take political expedience over sound engineering judgement

Non-engineering types are convinced that one can somehow lean on physical matter and get it to behave a certain way the same as they bully people into behaving a certain way. People may be manipulated. Physical material is another matter. They'll never learn.

[null and void]

political expedience over sound engineering judgement.

I'm convinced NASA wanted the Shuttle in orbit it time for the State Of The Union address that afternoon.

[CodeToad]

Even more now in every agency in every company “managers” decide things they know nothing about. Total arrogance.

[biggredd1]

I will never forget...they launched below 32 degrees with the school teacher on board so they could be up in space as reagan gave the state of union address that evening.

[Waverunner]

I know very well what happens when you try to present unpleasant facts to managers, and what happens when they refuse to listen to you and take political expedience over sound engineering judgement.

I just left a company for that very reason. I don’t intend to spend the next few years attempting to salvage a doomed project based on bad assumptions by management. It’s always scary when a lack of knowledge is replaced by the mystical yes man’s assurance of success.