Allan McDonald, engineer and whistleblower in the Challenger disaster, dies at 83

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Previously at DU:

Tue Mar 22, 2016: Challenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dies

Obituaries

Allan McDonald, engineer and whistleblower in the Challenger disaster, dies at 83



Engineer Allan J. McDonald testifies before the presidential committee investigating the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986. (Charles Tasnadi/AP)

By Emily Langer
March 10, 2021 at 7:23 p.m. EST

Allan J. McDonald, a rocket scientist and whistleblower who refused to sign off on the launch of the Challenger space shuttle over safety concerns and, after its explosion, argued that the tragedy could have been averted had officials heeded warnings from engineers like himself, died March 6 at a hospital in Ogden, Utah. He was 83. ... The cause was complications from a recent fall, said his daughter Lora McDonald.

For the millions of Americans who turned on their television sets to watch the Challenger take off on Jan. 28, 1986, the image of the space shuttle blowing apart in midair — killing seven astronauts, including New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe — was seared into their memory. The disaster is often described as an event on the order of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 or the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001: Those who lived through it will never forget where they were when it occurred.

{snip}

Protocol required the senior engineer to sign off on the launch. When Mr. McDonald refused, his supervisor signed for him. The Challenger lifted off at 11:38 a.m. on Jan. 28 and disintegrated approximately 72 seconds later, its remains streaking across the sky. ... “My heart just about stopped,” Mr. McDonald later said in a public lecture, according to the Commercial Dispatch of Columbus, Miss.

{snip}

Mr. McDonald was present at a closed session of the commission — watching from what he called the “cheap seats” — when he heard what he considered misleading testimony by a NASA official about the debate leading up to takeoff. ... “I was sitting there thinking, ‘That’s about as deceiving as anything I ever heard,’?” Mr. McDonald said in an interview aired on NPR. “So I raised my hand. I said, ‘I think this presidential commission should know that Morton Thiokol was so concerned, we recommended not launching below 53 degrees Fahrenheit. And we put that in writing and sent that to NASA.’ I’ll never forget Chairman Rogers said, ‘Would you please come down here on the floor and repeat what I think I heard?’?”

{snip}

He often cited an aphorism with particular resonance for him. “Regret for things we did is tempered by time,” he would tell his listeners. “Regret for things we did not do is inconsolable.”

Read more Washington Post obituaries

Emily Langer
Emily Langer is a reporter on The Washington Post’s obituaries desk. She writes about extraordinary lives in national and international affairs, science and the arts, sports, culture, and beyond. She previously worked for the Outlook and Local Living sections. Follow https://twitter.com/emilylangerWP

[3catwoman3]

1. As horrifying as this was for those of us...

...”just” watching, how very much worse for Mr. McDonald, seeing something that he feared, and tried to stop, happening before his eyes.

[Scottie Mom]

2. On that morning, my husband and I were getting ready to go to court.

We each had hearings. At the end of our bed was an entertainment armoire. I NEVER ever before had opened it and turn on the TV in the morning while getting ready for court -- too many other things on my mind. I sat down and watched and WHAM...I saw Challenger blow up on a live feed. I did not even know at the time I turned on the TV that the Challenger launch was taking place.

I have no clue why I did what I did with turning on the TV and sitting down to watch...but to this day, every time there is anything about this disaster, I remember that morning like it was yesterday.

Edit for typo