Science 30 Years After Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames Himself - Page 3

listopencil · 01-28-2016, 07:02 PM

Thirty years ago, as the nation mourned the loss of seven astronauts on the space shuttle Challenger, Bob Ebeling was steeped in his own deep grief. The night before the launch, Ebeling and four other engineers at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol had tried to stop the launch. Their managers and NASA overruled them. That night, he told his wife, Darlene, "It's going to blow up." When Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, Ebeling and his colleagues sat stunned in a conference room at Thiokol's headquarters outside Brigham City, Utah. They watched the spacecraft explode on a giant television screen and they knew exactly what had happened.

Three weeks later, Ebeling and another engineer separately and anonymously detailed to NPR the first account of that contentious pre-launch meeting. Both were despondent and in tears as they described hours of data review and arguments. The data showed that the rubber seals on the shuttle's booster rockets wouldn't seal properly in cold temperatures and this would be the coldest launch ever. Ebeling, now 89, decided to let NPR identify him this time, on the 30th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. "I was one of the few that was really close to the situation," Ebeling recalls. "Had they listened to me and wait[ed] for a weather change, it might have been a completely different outcome." We spoke in the same house, kitchen and living room that we spoke in 30 years ago, when Ebeling didn't want his name used or his voice recorded. He was afraid he would lose his job.

"I think the truth has to come out," he says about the decision to speak privately then. "NASA ruled the launch," he explains. "They had their mind set on going up and proving to the world they were right and they knew what they were doing. But they didn't." A presidential commission found flaws in the space agency's decision-making process. But it's still not clear why NASA was so anxious to launch without delay. The space shuttle program had an ambitious launch schedule that year and NASA wanted to show it could launch regularly and reliably. President Ronald Reagan was also set to deliver the State of the Union address that evening and reportedly planned to tout the Challenger launch. Whatever the reason, Ebeling says it didn't justify the risk. "There was more than enough [NASA officials and Thiokol managers] there to say, 'Hey, let's give it another day or two,' " Ebeling recalls. "But no one did."

Ebeling retired soon after Challenger. He suffered deep depression and has never been able to lift the burden of guilt. In 1986, as he watched that haunting image again on a television screen, he said, "I could have done more. I should have done more." He says the same thing today, sitting in a big easy chair in the same living room, his eyes watery and his face grave. The data he and his fellow engineers presented, and their persistent and sometimes angry arguments, weren't enough to sway Thiokol managers and NASA officials. Ebeling concludes he was inadequate. He didn't argue the data well enough. A religious man, this is something he has prayed about for the past 30 years. "I think that was one of the mistakes that God made," Ebeling says softly. "He shouldn't have picked me for the job. But next time I talk to him, I'm gonna ask him, 'Why me? You picked a loser.' "

I reminded him of something his late colleague and friend Roger Boisjoly once told me. Boisjoly was the other Thiokol engineer who spoke anonymously with NPR 30 years ago. He came to believe that he and Ebeling and their colleagues did all they could. "We were talking to the right people," Boisjoly told me. "We were talking to the people who had the power to stop that launch." "Maybe," Ebeling says with a weak wave as I leave. "Maybe Roger's right."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...blames-himself

Red Dawg · 01-28-2016, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

I was in 8th grade, literally just across the state watching it, standing outside and watched it explode in the air..

Damn.

KChiefs1 · 01-28-2016, 11:42 PM

I was in college & watching it over lunch at the student union.

RobBlake · 01-29-2016, 03:34 AM

life is so precious... rip to those valiant souls.

eDave · 01-29-2016, 03:41 AM

I remember how remarkably affected I, and everyone else was. There's a unique bond we all share with astronauts and space travel.

**007** · 01-29-2016, 04:07 AM

pisses me off to know that somebody knew it would blow up. Begged nasa not to launch and they ****ing did anyway. Assholes.

Toby Waller · 01-29-2016, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eDave

I remember how remarkably affected I, and everyone else was. There's a unique bond we all share with astronauts and space travel.

without trying to sounding bad here......no there isnt...I dont know that I was remarkably affected aside from not wanting to see a morbid televised death.

I hate space travel. The thought of being in space scares me...floating to no where

**mdchiefsfan** · 01-29-2016, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

No, her temp is 98.6F just like the rest of us.

So, what probe did you use to check her temp?

**ExtremeChief** · 01-29-2016, 06:55 AM

I was a Jr in HS. Watched it in a social studies class.

**Dartgod** · 01-29-2016, 07:29 AM

I didn't watch it live, but remember exactly where I was the moment I heard the news on the radio. Going across the overpass on Blue Ridge Blvd. at 50 highway in Raytown.

Lex Luthor · 01-29-2016, 07:35 AM

I still remember the news reports of Christa McAullife's last words to her husband. She said "You feed the dogs, I'll feed the fish".

Sully · 01-29-2016, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lex Luthor

I still remember the news reports of Christa McAullife's last words to her husband. She said "You feed the dogs, I'll feed the fish".

Too soon?

Sully · 01-29-2016, 07:40 AM

The horrifying thing to me is that the astronauts survived until they hit the water. I don't think they were conscious, but still.

Yosef_Malkovitch · 01-29-2016, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sully

The horrifying thing to me is that the astronauts survived until they hit the water. I don't think they were conscious, but still.

Some of them were conscious, at least part of the time. No, I'm not referencing that fake transcript of the recorder that's been floating around for years. I'm referencing the fact that 3 of the 4 emergency air packs they recovered had been activated.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/challenger.asp

Sully · 01-29-2016, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yosef_Malkovitch

Some of them were conscious, at least part of the time. No, I'm not referencing that fake transcript of the recorder that's been floating around for years. I'm referencing the fact that 3 of the 4 emergency air packs they recovered had been activated.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/challenger.asp

That's mortifying.

Amnorix · 01-29-2016, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Sounds like some people at NASA have blood on their hands.

That is not news. It has long been known that senior people at Nasa and/or Morton Thiokol overruled engineers that were warning about the launch.

01-28-2016, 07:02 PM
listopencil Immanentize The Eschaton Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: In Partibus Infidelium Casino cash: $2255880	30 Years After Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames Himself Thirty years ago, as the nation mourned the loss of seven astronauts on the space shuttle Challenger, Bob Ebeling was steeped in his own deep grief. The night before the launch, Ebeling and four other engineers at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol had tried to stop the launch. Their managers and NASA overruled them. That night, he told his wife, Darlene, "It's going to blow up." When Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, Ebeling and his colleagues sat stunned in a conference room at Thiokol's headquarters outside Brigham City, Utah. They watched the spacecraft explode on a giant television screen and they knew exactly what had happened. Three weeks later, Ebeling and another engineer separately and anonymously detailed to NPR the first account of that contentious pre-launch meeting. Both were despondent and in tears as they described hours of data review and arguments. The data showed that the rubber seals on the shuttle's booster rockets wouldn't seal properly in cold temperatures and this would be the coldest launch ever. Ebeling, now 89, decided to let NPR identify him this time, on the 30th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. "I was one of the few that was really close to the situation," Ebeling recalls. "Had they listened to me and wait[ed] for a weather change, it might have been a completely different outcome." We spoke in the same house, kitchen and living room that we spoke in 30 years ago, when Ebeling didn't want his name used or his voice recorded. He was afraid he would lose his job. "I think the truth has to come out," he says about the decision to speak privately then. "NASA ruled the launch," he explains. "They had their mind set on going up and proving to the world they were right and they knew what they were doing. But they didn't." A presidential commission found flaws in the space agency's decision-making process. But it's still not clear why NASA was so anxious to launch without delay. The space shuttle program had an ambitious launch schedule that year and NASA wanted to show it could launch regularly and reliably. President Ronald Reagan was also set to deliver the State of the Union address that evening and reportedly planned to tout the Challenger launch. Whatever the reason, Ebeling says it didn't justify the risk. "There was more than enough [NASA officials and Thiokol managers] there to say, 'Hey, let's give it another day or two,' " Ebeling recalls. "But no one did." Ebeling retired soon after Challenger. He suffered deep depression and has never been able to lift the burden of guilt. In 1986, as he watched that haunting image again on a television screen, he said, "I could have done more. I should have done more." He says the same thing today, sitting in a big easy chair in the same living room, his eyes watery and his face grave. The data he and his fellow engineers presented, and their persistent and sometimes angry arguments, weren't enough to sway Thiokol managers and NASA officials. Ebeling concludes he was inadequate. He didn't argue the data well enough. A religious man, this is something he has prayed about for the past 30 years. "I think that was one of the mistakes that God made," Ebeling says softly. "He shouldn't have picked me for the job. But next time I talk to him, I'm gonna ask him, 'Why me? You picked a loser.' " I reminded him of something his late colleague and friend Roger Boisjoly once told me. Boisjoly was the other Thiokol engineer who spoke anonymously with NPR 30 years ago. He came to believe that he and Ebeling and their colleagues did all they could. "We were talking to the right people," Boisjoly told me. "We were talking to the people who had the power to stop that launch." "Maybe," Ebeling says with a weak wave as I leave. "Maybe Roger's right." http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...blames-himself
Posts: 55,927

01-28-2016, 11:42 PM	#32
KChiefs1 I’m a Mahomo! Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Mid-Missouri Casino cash: $6771021	I was in college & watching it over lunch at the student union. __________________
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01-29-2016, 03:34 AM	#33
RobBlake Banned Join Date: Aug 2013 Casino cash: $10011127	life is so precious... rip to those valiant souls.
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01-29-2016, 03:41 AM	#34
eDave Banned Join Date: Jan 2013 Casino cash: $9998560	I remember how remarkably affected I, and everyone else was. There's a unique bond we all share with astronauts and space travel.
Posts: 53,803

01-29-2016, 04:07 AM	#35
007 Shaken. Not stirred. Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: London Casino cash: $14060126 VARSITY	pisses me off to know that somebody knew it would blow up. Begged nasa not to launch and they ****ing did anyway. Assholes. __________________ My dear girl, there are some things that just aren’t done. Such as, drinking Dom Perignon ’53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs.
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01-29-2016, 06:55 AM	#38
ExtremeChief Poser Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: BFE, MO Casino cash: $9991344	I was a Jr in HS. Watched it in a social studies class. __________________ When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.
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01-29-2016, 07:29 AM	#39
Dartgod Wasted away again... Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: in Margaritaville Casino cash: $7430000	I didn't watch it live, but remember exactly where I was the moment I heard the news on the radio. Going across the overpass on Blue Ridge Blvd. at 50 highway in Raytown. __________________ If you shed a tear for me, please make it a tear of joy. -Joe Tracy (Nzoner) . .
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01-29-2016, 07:35 AM	#40
Lex Luthor MVP Join Date: Mar 2010 Casino cash: $10022775	I still remember the news reports of Christa McAullife's last words to her husband. She said "You feed the dogs, I'll feed the fish".
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01-29-2016, 07:40 AM	#42
Sully It Goes On Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Lees Summit Casino cash: $10026331	The horrifying thing to me is that the astronauts survived until they hit the water. I don't think they were conscious, but still. __________________ "And I don't wish that girl any bad luck," he said, "but I hope she gets hit with a car." - Tommy Lasorda
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