Roger Boisjoly, the scientist who defended the original “no launch” decision on the ill-fated Challenger space shuttle mission and who later offered vital testimony about the decision to launch, will speak on “Using Challenger as a Model to
Change Organizational Behavior” on Wednesday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
The lecture, part of the College's Minerva Series, is free and open to the public.
Boisjoly, now an ethics lecturer and forensic engineer who offers testimony in investigations of mechanical malfunctions, was a troubleshooter for NASA's solid rocket booster program at the time of the Jan. 28, 1986 Challenger accident.
In pre-launch meetings, Boisjoly argued that the low-temperatures preceding the launch
could compromise the O-rings that join the segments of the solid rocket boosters.
Eventually, NASA managers – over the objections of Boisjoly and others – decided to
proceed. About a minute into launch, an O-ring near the base of the right booster had
failed to the point that escaping hot gasses perforated the main engine, causing an
explosion and the loss of the Challenger and its crew.
Boisjoly uses the case study of the Challenger to discuss management problems that
plague a number of organizations, specifically that managers often do not have enough or
correct information to make decisions and that problems are hidden.