Taylor Jakeman
Professor Jennings
Technology in Society
25 February 2020
The Challenger Disaster, Case Study
On January 28th, 1986, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
launched the flight of the long-awaited Challenger, which abruptly ended 73 seconds later in a
fireball of hydrogen and oxygen propellants. The readings “the last flight of space shuttle
challenger” by Michael T. Charles and “The naked launch: Assigning blame for the challenger
explosion” by Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch, intensely covers all aspects of the events leading
to what is arguably the worst space program disaster in history. The explosion resulted in the
death of 7 crew members as well as an excess cost of $2 billion to replace the lost STS (space
transportation system). Impactfully, this shook the nations and furthermore the world’s trust with
NASA, who at the time were leading the space race. There are many important factors talked
about in both readings that play significant roles in the explosion of the Challenger. An
engineering failure on one hand is to blame. The technical flaw of an O–ring, which failed to
function properly in the cold weather conditions. On the other hand, faulty decision making, and
arguably egotistical attitudes are to blame. In an environment of pressured decision making,
politics, contracts, funding and military influences it is easy to see how the “blame” cannot be
solely placed on one factor.
Michael T. Charles talks in depth around the communication and organization failings
that led to this disaster, which is ultimately why I see the challenger disaster as being caused by
those involved in the launch, rather than a technical failure. In this reading it illustrates the
known details of all five meetings held prior to the launch. Some of the parties involved included
the likes of, Thiokol, Mr. Kilminster, Mr. Boisjoly, Kennedy space center and Marshall Space
flight center. From my understanding of these verses, I can gather a strong argumentative point
that the poor communication between these parties in these meetings, is the key cause of the
explosion. The discussions had covered all the possible negatives of launching on the 28th, and
there were large concerns raised by Thiokol regarding the O-rings in the cold weather. These
concerns were overlooked. To me this is a red flag, as in an environment such as a space
launch, any concern over incapability of the launch should be taken seriously and acted upon
immediately. Considering this was such an important and large event, all involved should have
felt 100% confident before launch and all on the same page, which was simply not the case.
Later in this reading we are given a list of factors that may have influenced this poor decision
