Roger Boisjoly

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Roger Boisjoly (born April 25, 1938 in Lowell , Massachusetts , † January 6, 2012 in Nephi , Utah ) was an American engineer who appeared before the Challenger disaster as a futile warner.

Life

Roger Boisjoly has worked for Morton Thiokol , the manufacturer of the outer solid rocket for the space shuttle program , since 1980 . As early as July 1985 he pointed out the error-prone concept of the so-called O-rings . The failure of these sealing rings ultimately led to the disaster of the Challenger space shuttle on January 28, 1986, in which the entire crew died. The sealing rings, which were supposed to seal the individual segments of the solid rocket against each other, had already been badly damaged during a mission in July 1985. At the time, Boisjoly examined the O-rings and found that the lower elasticity of the rings at low outside temperatures could lead to leaks during take-off and, as a result, hot gases could escape with catastrophic effects.

Boisjoly raised the problem at his company but was not taken seriously. At that time, Morton Thiokol was negotiating a new contract with NASA, with the possibility that NASA would allow further suppliers besides Morton Thiokol in the future. Since Boisjoly did not give up, an in-house "task force" was set up, which, according to Boisjoly, received little support from management. In late 1985, Boisjoly explicitly warned of a possible disaster on one of the next shuttle missions.

The scheduled launch of the space shuttle on January 28, 1986 took place under particularly unfavorable weather conditions. The night temperatures were as low as −6 ° C. Boisjoly and his colleagues took the view that this would dangerously impair the functionality of the sealing rings. The management of Morton Thiokol agreed that this question was serious enough to postpone the start that had already been postponed several times. However, NASA was under pressure from the public. During a conference call with the NASA management, the managers of Morton Thiokol finally withdrew to the position that their data could not be clearly interpreted. The fatal Challenger mission STS-51-L was then launched. Boisjoly's warnings turned out to be justified.

After the Challenger disaster, which killed seven astronauts, President Ronald Reagan appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the cause of the accident. Roger Boisjoly was one of the witnesses. As a result, Boisjoly, who had become an outsider as a whistleblower , left his company. He then dealt with ethics in the workplace.

With this topic he became a popular guest speaker and lectured at over 50 US universities. In 1988 he was awarded the “Prize for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility” by the American Association for the Advancement of Science .

literature

  • Elizabeth Pennisi: Challenger's Whistle-Blower: Hero And Outcast The Scientist, January 20, 1990
  • Diane Vaughan, American Council of Learned Societies (Ed): The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA , University of Chicago Press, 1997
  • Andrew J. Dunar: A History of Marshall Space Flight Center, 1960-1990 . Ed .: NASA History Office, Office of Policy and Plans. 1999, p. 339–387 (online at Google Books / in the Internet archive ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roger Boisjoly, 73, Dies; Warned of Shuttle Danger . New York Times . February 3, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  2. ^ Roger Boisjoly: Memo from Roger Boisjoly on O-Ring Erosion. July 31, 1985, accessed September 23, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Peter H. King and Maura Dolan: NASA, Thiokol in Contract Talks at Time of Blast. Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1986, accessed March 28, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Kimberly A. Pace: The Legal Profession as a Standard for Improving Engineering Ethics: Should Engineers Behave like Lawyers? In: Berkeley Technology Law Journal. Edition 9, 1994. 1994, p. 93 ff. , Accessed on September 23, 2009 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Boisjoly, Roger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION american engineer
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Lowell, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 2012
Place of death Nephi , Utah