Forty years of what if

Throughline

This episode follows engineer Brian Russell as he recounts the events leading up to the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion. It details

Key takeaways

• Brian Russell warned that freezing temperatures could cause O-ring seals to fail during launch.
• Morton Thiokol faced a $10 million penalty for any launch delays caused by their components.

Main topics

• Challenger space shuttle disaster
• O-ring technical failure

Notable quotes

Take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat.

Conclusion

A profound reflection on how organizational pressure can override tech

Transcript preview

Speaker 8 (0:00) Hey, how are you feeling right now? Exhausted from the summer? Overwhelmed with the new school year? Restless? Anxious? LifeKit is here to help. Consider us your mental health accountability buddy, with episodes on everything from navigating social anxiety to unlearning perfectionism. Listen to the LifeKit podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (0:25) I thought to myself, would I be the only one in this room who would disagree with a launch decision? I asked myself in my mind, do I Speaker 4 (0:35) have the courage to say that? Speaker 4 (0:38) I'm Randa Abdel-Fattah, and on this episode of ThruLine from NPR, something a little bit different. We're speaking with Brian Russell, an engineer who rang the alarm bells before the Challenger space shuttle tragedy 40 years ago. Speaker 7 (0:52) And when the launch came down close, I got up on my knees to watch it and just nervous, as nervous as it could be. My stomach was just in knots. Speaker 4 (1:04) That conversation, when we come back. Speaker 5 (1:17) This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy, David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (1:41) This election season, let the NPR Politics podcast save your time and your sanity. We'll help you understand key races, which polls you can safely ignore, and what might happen if power shifts in Congress. Our short daily episodes come out every afternoon, so you can spend less time scrolling through each chaotic news cycle. Make NPR Politics your hub for midterm election coverage. Follow our podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. This fall, there are a lot of movies and TV shows on tap for you to see, and we're as excited for all of it to arrive as you are. On Pop Culture Happy Hour, we've got a guide to what's worth keeping on your radar. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (2:25) This week on Shortwave, El Nino. Speaker 8 (2:28) This year we're really seeing an El Nino for the record books. Speaker 1 (2:31) Raising risks of... Speaker 8 (2:32) More intense floods, droughts, temperature changes. Speaker 1 (2:36) What a supercharged El Nino means for you and how climate change is making things worse. This week on Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. Speaker 6 (2:53) It was a bitter cold but sparkling clear morning at Cape Canaveral. Here are the last seconds of the countdown. Three, two, one, and liftoff. Speaker 4 (3:03) On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched with seven astronauts aboard. Its mission was to get into near-Earth orbit, release satellites, and conduct research. There was a sense of relief that the much-delayed flight was finally underway. But a little over a minute after it launched, something went wrong. Speaker 6 (3:25) These are the spectators that were watching. Speaker 4 (3:38) The shuttle suddenly exploded. The boosters flew off erratically, and the main engine blew apart, with pieces of it flying across the sky and into the ocean. Speaker 6 (3:49) The picture you were just seeing was Christian McCullough's parents watching in four. Speaker 4 (3:54) Family and friends of several of the astronauts on board the shuttle witnessed the explosion in person. Millions more watched it on live television. None of the astronauts survived. Speaker 5 (4:08) Today, the House Science and Technology Committee begins an intensive series of congressional hearings into the causes and the ramifications of a great national tragedy, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the loss of seven true American Speaker 4 (4:22) heroes. In the months and years following the explosion, there were multiple investigations into the cause. Speaker 5 (4:29) First, we will look at the technology and the hardware that caused the accident. Second, we will closely examine the management problems and decision-making processes within NASA. Speaker 4 (4:39) It was eventually concluded that the explosion happened because of the failure of something called an O-ring. These are gaskets that form seal joints on rockets, preventing combustion gas leaks by keeping extreme heat and high-pressure exhaust gas from burning through the casing. The company that was contracted by NASA to develop and build rockets for the Challenger was called Morton Thiokol. They had a team that was dedicated to ensuring O-rings were working properly. In the months before the launch, Brian Russell, an engineer on that team, had been warning that if temperatures got too low on the day of the launch, the O-rings might not work properly. And all of this came to a head the day before the launch, when NASA and Morton Thiokol had a check-in. after weather forecasts indicated overnight temperatures were going to be very low before the launch. Speaker 7 (5:36) The request came out of that big review of the high NASA managers. This is Brian Russell. He spoke with