Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Allan J. McDonald & James R. Hansen

ISBN 10: 0813066034 / ISBN 13: 9780813066035

Published by University Press of Florida, 2018

About this Item

The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Seller Inventory # GOR014998410

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813066034
• ISBN 13: 9780813066035
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 1157 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Authors

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.