Challenger: Twenty Years Later, Lessons Never Learned
How an Administration Ignored the Lessons of History

By Joe Trento, January 26, 2006

Twenty years ago this week the Challenger space shuttle blew up off the coast of the Kennedy Space Center. Like a lot of things the government has done wrong since --9.11, the war in Iraq, the creation of the incompetent and ineffective Department of Homeland Security --Challenger could have been prevented. Sadly, so could have the destruction of her sister ship and crew Columbia in 2003. Not preventing two predictable disasters was a real indictment of NASA management and the political administrations, Reagan and Bush II, which was trying to convert the civilian space program into funds toward the military “black” space effort. A lazy media, defense-contractor-dominated congressional oversight and a feckless NASA management, caused the entire episode to be repeated as Columbia reentered with a hole in its wing. NASA management made no effort from the time they learned of the damage to mount a rescue effort.

The George W. Bush administration escaped much scrutiny for this screw up because the media was more focused on the ramp up to the war in Iraq. It seems the media cannot handle more than one massive government screw-up at a time.

In both cases brave engineers tried to stop the launch and save the crews, only to be blocked by NASA managers beholding to political bosses beholding to defense contractors that really ran the program. Today, the Bush administration has managed to make whistleblowers, and men and women who speak up against a wrong-headed policy or decisions from the inside, to be less than patriotic. This is part of government by spin. It is also immoral, a point that seems not to play much of a role in the national dialogue.

So this story is a history lesson. It is the story of a conservative and careful man who tried to save the Challenger and her crew. The man’s name is Roger Boisjoly. After you read what he did, and the price he paid for it, you may wonder if he regrets it. Not Roger. As an engineer, Roger Boisjoly believes in absolute truth. “It is what it is” he would say. “Unknowns are the enemy. You can’t eliminate them but you can manage them. Deliberately not addressing the dangers is where it becomes a moral question…not to ask the questions and search for the answers is unacceptable.”

Today Roger lectures on morality, ethics and engineering. You can order his amazing presentation. I urge you to if you run any kind of business or governmental entity that has a responsibility for public welfare. I urge you to do it if you have interest in improving our national character. Former staffer Sarah Banner and author Susan Trento contributed to this report.

With No Second Act, Nasa Became a Target for the Military

The years following the Apollo era were defined at NASA by safety compromises and funding struggles. Without an inspiring leader or an international race to the moon to justify more funding, NASA was forced to sacrifice more of its accessibility and safety regulations just to stay alive. During the 1970s, NASA grew weaker, and the military became more forceful in its attempts to take over various NASA programs.

During the Reagan years, NASA Administrator James Beggs and his deputy Hans Mark tried to keep the shuttle program viable, but the fledgling program experienced more cost overruns and delays, due in large part to Air Force demands. Parts and funds were constantly funneled off the shuttle to other programs, making the shuttle fleet vulnerable to cancellation and disaster. Although Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative took precedence over the shuttle, Beggs and Mark fought their way past Reagan’s advisors and secured funding for their other two priorities, the International Space Station and Centaur upper stage. But the upper stage quickly turned into financial chaos and threatened the safety of the few missions on which it was scheduled to fly. And although the ISS had been Beggs’ top priority, it ultimately led to his downfall. In the years leading up to Challenger, NASA was falling into massive disarray and the shuttle fleet continued to suffer from malnourishment.

After they had secured funding for the ISS and Centaur upper stage, Beggs and Mark became White House targets. Mark escaped in time, but Beggs became the target of an investigation for contract fraud. The political right in the White House was furious that Beggs had secured space funds for the civilian run ISS and used the investigation as an excuse to force Beggs out. Three months before the Challenger launch, Beggs was indicted and was forced to take a leave of absence from NASA. His departure left the agency in the hands of the White House’s first choice, Bill Graham, a nuclear weapons specialist with no management experience. Graham was absent from the Cape the day Challenger blew. It was the first time in NASA’s history that the administrator was absent on launch day.

Meanwhile, NASA’s public relations team worked overtime to keep the public interested in the shuttle program. The decision to send a schoolteacher on the shuttle was a dangerous solution that put intense pressure on the agency to launch successfully. The pressure to launch, coupled with the lack of leadership at NASA created enough political chaos to obscure the O-ring problems that were threatening the upcoming Challenger launch. The meeting in which could have stopped the launch that killed the Challenger seven—occurred in the midst of this political chaos.

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