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Truth, Lies, and O-Rings

Name: Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
Author: Allan J. McDonald
ISBN: 9780813041933

Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

by Allan J. McDonald and James R. Hansen

Published by: University Press of Florida

A Popular Mechanics Best BookWinner of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature AwardFinalist for the American Astronautical Society’s Eugene...

648 Pages6.13 × 9.2555 illustrations

Paperback
9780813041933
Published: April 1, 2012

$32.00

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Hardcover
9780813066035
Published: December 1, 2018

$50.00

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EPUB
9780813047010
Published: March 11, 2012

(Ebook delivery via Leaf eReader app.)

$18.99

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Description
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Praise
Table of Contents

A Popular Mechanics Best Book

Winner of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award

Finalist for the American Astronautical Society’s Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award

What they didn’t want you to know

On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals, including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation’s collective memory.

In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses all of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA’s Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission.

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings is the first look at the Challenger tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-Challenger flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of Columbia some fifteen years later.

Allan J. McDonald (1937‒2021) retired as vice president and technical director for advanced technology programs at ATK Thiokol Propulsion in 2001. He was the director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Project at the time of the Challenger accident and, later, vice president of engineering for space operations during the redesign and requalification of the solid rocket motors. James R. Hansen, professor of history and director of the Honors College at Auburn University, is the author of First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong.

“We all watched in shock and disbelief when Challenger was lost. Probably no one felt more disappointment and regret than Allan McDonald, who had warned us not to launch that day. His story tells of loss, grief, and the eventual rebuilding and recovery.”—Robert “Hoot” Gibson, former Space Shuttle pilot and commander
“A major contribution to a difficult episode in the history of human spaceflight.”—Roger D. Launius, Division of Space History, Smithsonian Institution
“McDonald tells the heartbreaking tale of how he saw his words of warning ignored, and the fateful consequences of that decision.”—Donald C. Elder III, Eastern New Mexico University

“There have been many accounts of the circumstances surrounding the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986, but few, if any, give as much of an insider’s view as this book.”—Quest
“McDonald argues convincingly that the Challenger accident need not have happened, had his warnings been heeded; therein lies the tragedy.”—Space Policy
“A major contribution to the literature of the management of technology as well as to the history of the space program.”—Choice
“Whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book.”—Spaceflight
“An even-handed take on an American aerospace tragedy.”—Book News
“Recounts the decision to launch Challenger, the investigation of the accident, and the return of the shuttle to space flight. McDonald’s book is, like the shuttle itself, a massive, complex, and fascinating work.”—Florida Historical Quarterly

Foreword

Preface

Prologue

Part I. Red Flags

Chapter 1. When It Rains It Pours

Chapter 2. Tests and “No Tests”

Chapter 3. Dire Warning

Chapter 4. A Total O-Ring Failure

Chapter 5. An Impotent Task Force

Chapter 6. “In the Interest of Avoiding Pain”

Part II. Misdiagnosis

Chapter 7. The Teleconference

Chapter 8. The Caucus

Chapter 9. “Obviously, a Major Malfunction”

Chapter 10. “Don’t Blame Yourself”

Chapter 11. “When Is the Space Shuttle Going Up, Daddy?”

Part III. Search for the Truth

Chapter 12. Shocking the Presidential Commission

Chapter 13. Cover-up

Chapter 14. “God, That Took a Lot of Guts”

Chapter 15. A Leper in the Limelight

Chapter 16. Walking Out

Chapter 17. “The Extremes of Allowable Engineering”

Chapter 18. Changing Hats and Minds

Part IV. Obfuscation

Chapter 19. Rationalization and Innuendo

Chapter 20. 31 Degrees?

Chapter 21. Houston, You Have a Problem

Chapter 22. Finger Pointing

Chapter 23. The Apocalypse Letter

Chapter 24. “Trouble with Your Logic”

Chapter 25. The Monkey Changes Backs

Part V. Commissioners and Congressmen

Chapter 26. The Green Ball Theory

Chapter 27. Commencement

Chapter 28. Commodore Locke Assailed in Washington

Chapter 29. The Buck Stops Here?

Part VI. No Consensus

Chapter 30. The Bell Tolls for Thee

Chapter 31. Redesign and Resurrection

Chapter 32. Boisjoly’s $2 Billion Lawsuit

Chapter 33. No Mountain Too High

Chapter 34. The Peacekeeper Explosion

Chapter 35. Witness for the Defense … and Prosecution

Chapter 36. Confirming the Silver Bullet

Part VII. Return-to-Flight

Chapter 37. Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 38. Premonitions

Chapter 39. Dissolution

Chapter 40. Requiem

Acknowledgments

Big Sky Values: A Biography of Allan J. McDonald

List of Abbreviations

Bibliographical Essay

Books

Authors

Journals

On The Site

Books

Authors

Journals

On The Site

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings

Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings

Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

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