The Aftermath

As a result of the explosion, the shuttle program was grounded as a thorough review of shuttle safety was conducted. Thiokol formed a failure-investigation team on January 31, 1986, which included Roger Boisjoly. There were also many investiga- tions into the cause of the accident, both by the contractors involved (including Thiokol) and by various government bodies. As part of the governmental investiga- tion, President Reagan appointed a blue-ribbon commission, known as the Rogers Commission, after its chair. The commission consisted of distinguished scientists and engineers who were asked to look into the cause of the accident and to recom- mend changes in the shuttle program.

One of the commission members was Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, who ably demonstrated to the country what had gone wrong. In a dem- onstration that was repeatedly shown on national news programs, he demonstrated the problem with the O-rings by taking a sample of the O-ring material and bend- ing it. The fl exibility of the material at room temperature was evident. He then immersed it in ice water. When Feynman again bent the O-ring, it was obvious that the resiliency of the material was severely reduced, a very clear demonstration of what happened to the O-rings on the cold launch date in Florida.

As part of the commission hearings, Boisjoly and other Thiokol engineers were asked to testify. Boisjoly handed over to the commission copies of internal Thiokol memos and reports detailing the design process and the problems that had already been encountered. Naturally, Thiokol was trying to put the best possible spin on the situation, and Boisjoly’s actions hurt this effort. According to Boisjoly, after this action he was isolated within the company, his responsibilities for the redesign of the joint were taken away, and he was subtly harassed by Thiokol management [ Boisjoly, 1991 , and Boisjoly, Curtis, and Mellicam, 1989 ].

Eventually, the atmosphere became intolerable for Boisjoly, and he took extended sick leave from his position at Thiokol. The joint was redesigned, and the shuttle has since fl own numerous successful missions. However, the ambitious launch schedule originally intended by NASA was never met. It was reported in 2001 that NASA has spent $5 million to study the possibility of installing some type of escape system to protect the shuttle crew in the event of an accident. Possibilities include ejection seats or an escape capsule that would work during the fi rst three minutes of fl ight. These features were incorporated into earlier manned space vehicles and in fact were in place on the shuttle until 1982. Whether such a system would have saved the astronauts aboard the Challenger is unknown, and ultimately an escape system was never incorporated into the space shuttle.