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.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

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.

Not a flame, just a a minor correction.

Technically, he did a barrel roll, which is a 1-G maneuver. By definition, an aileron roll requires negative Gs, which is prohibited in all airliners, even Boeings.

[Justa]

It was ordered to fly from the very top imo. If you recall CBS was mocking the prior launch attempts in their newscasts and how all the kids watching from their schools kept being let down.

[WalterSobchak2012]

My son is going through this very experience right now after reporting to management that their insistence that some unsuitable compressors that they just happened to have sitting around be used on a project would result in an unacceptable performance, eventualy total failure and the OEM would dead stop not warrant or support the equipment if used in this way.

So they found a Ukrainian engineer who said it would work brilliantly and his contract which expires March 1st isn't being renewed.

[WalterSobchak2012]

My son is going through this very experience right now after reporting to management that their insistence that some unsuitable compressors that they just happened to have sitting around be used on a project would result in unacceptable performance, eventualy total failure and the OEM would dead stop not warrant or support the equipment if used in this way.

So they found a Ukrainian engineer who said it would work brilliantly and his contract which expires March 1st isn't being renewed.

[canuck_conservative]

It was a classic case of media pressure and management arrogance resulting in disaster.

Another similar incident happened 100 years ago - the maiden voyage of The Titanic.

The technology gets better, but there are still limits that must be respected.

[Fresh Wind]

I’ll never forget that day. I had just left work to get lunch, and was in my car just as the launch was on the local news station. I was always nervous about those launches, but that time I had a particular sense of dread. Don’t know why.

When it became obvious that there was a major problem, I went home to watch it on TV. Eventually I went back to work, but everybody was in a state of shock, and nothing got done the rest of the day.

Yes, Reagan was great on that occasion.

[Churchillspirit]

He ended up having a nervous breakdown

When would that be?

[BerryDingle]

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

That's exactly right.

[Lx]

I read the book, Challenger, a Major Malfunction.

In it, they did their best to insinuate that Reagan was the reason they had to launch that day as he was giving an address.

I called B.S. then and now. What kind of engineer/manager lets the suits make the call when lives are in danger and it's the engineer/manager's call.

The Air force did a study that showed for solid fuel rockets, there is a 1 in 25 chance of a burn through, not exactly a high margin of safety, I hope it has been improved.

To throw in a little politics:

Aerojet had a one piece design that would have been built in Florida and barged up to the Cape. I no longer have the book but again, there were insinuations that politics meant that Morton Thiokol won the bid and their booster was made in segments in Utah and moved to the Cape by rail.

Even my untrained eye can see the problem with the original joints. The new ones had a third o ring but more importantly, the joint slid into a slot that was designed to allow the joint to expand but not let the hot gasses through.

Original design:

This is the new design:

The 'capture' feature of the new design is supposed to help when the SRB cases expand when they're lit.

I'll never forget that day and the fact that some lived all the way to the sea is disturbing. Seeing Challenger explode is like watching the second plane go into the WTC. It's hard to believe that you just saw several lives ended. I try to avoid watching either.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Long ago I went to an Edward Tufte seminar on presentation graphics design.....IIRC he said that the data was clear that the launch should be stopped, but that the Thiokol engineers failed to present it in such a way as to persuade management. Even with the technology available back then (no Powerpoint) the story could have been presented such that they HAD to cancel. With better graphics, lives might have been saved...........

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Monty wanted to be aggressive like Patton. He had the motivation, but not one tenth the talent.

Worse, his effort diverted fuel from Patton so that he was held back.

[FreedomPoster]

I can’t believe you invoke Tufte’s name and suggest Powerpoint could have saved things in the same breath!

PowerPoint Is Evil

Power Corrupts.
PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely.

By Edward Tufte

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

If you’re ever in Manhattan near the Chelsea Piers, the ET Gallery is worth visiting. I don’t normally like abstract outdoor sculpture, but for some reason loved his work.

[Waverunner]

That’s too funny, the yes man I referred to was Croatian.
I guess an accent gives you credibility. Forget facts, just listen to how he sounds.

[Yorlik803]

If I recall, he was removed from his post for “ Stress” and placed in a military hospital. When the news of the failure of Market Garden and the loss of the Paras it hit him pretty hard.
At the first screening of “ A Bridge Too Far” he met some of the Paras. He was worried at first but one told him “ At least you tried to warn everyone”.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Powerpoint never saved anything - but better charts and graphics (using Tufte’s principles of information transferral) might have. Miserable as it is, though, Powerpoint beats the crap out of overheads any day. I haven’t had to clear a jammed overhead slide from a copy machine in years.

[Revolting cat!]

Life is show business! IF the engineers had a better looking presentation for the mgmt MBAs, I hear here, (ya know, technicolor, flashing lights, like they have on Star Trek) lives would have been saved! Nothing but shoe biz, to quote Ed Sullivan.

[holden]

Doing the roll in the 707 was Tex Johnson.

HF