Reading05: The Challenger
The Challenger was a disaster that occurred on January 28th, 1986. The space shuttle took off and just over a minute after take off, it exploded, killing all 7 crew members, one of which was a teacher chosen to be part of the crew as the first civilian to go to space. It was later revealed that the causes of the Challenger disaster were the O-rings. Because of the low temperatures during take off, the O-rings eroded and became basically useless. This caused hot gas to leak which ignited an external fuel tank, causing the explosion.
Roger Boisjoly and others on the research and engineering team knew what would happen and warned NASA of the dangers that could happen if the launch happened at below freezing temperatures. They knew that the O-rings would most likely malfunction at such a low temperature. However, the managers were tired of waiting for the launch date, and decided to go on with the launch anyways, ignoring the warnings of the engineering team. Boisjoly, knowing what could happen, saved and hid all of his research and documents so that they couldn’t be taken away. He eventually revealed the details of the disaster to the public. This caused him to lose everything. He was shunned by his coworkers and NASA even blackballed him to keep him out of the industry. Boisjoly could never return to work again, and his everyday life was haunted by the retaliation of his actions.
Boisjoly was ethical in sharing his information with the public. If it wasn’t for him, the public and families of the crew members may never have learned what caused the crew members’ deaths. Because of his actions, the public is now aware of the mistake, and will not allow it to happen again. NASA has also learned a lesson in that they should listen to the engineers when warnings are provided. Boisjoly may have saved future space crews from facing this same accident.
His company’s retaliation was also understandable. Boisjoly broke contracts between him and his company and revealed private information to the public, which is illegal. It made sense for him to be fired and rejected by the field. However, the company ignored his warnings and caused many lives to be lost. This kind of mistake isn’t something that should be hidden from the public. In my opinion, the people who tried to hide these mistakes should be considered criminals as well. Their mistakes and choices are what murdered the crew members of the Challenger, and they should have faced some sort of punishment, but because of the high position they were in, they’re mistakes were just dismissed.
Some may think it wasn’t worth it for Boisjoly to have revealed everything to the public. His actions as a whistleblower caused his life to be ruined in so many ways. However, as difficult as it may be, I think he made the right choice. His actions probably saved future lives from the same fate as the Challenger crew members. It also revealed the corruption within the company, allowing the public to have a more accurate view of the company and know who is at fault. If I was an employee at this place, I would want to know what kind of leadership I was working under and what sort of corruption was happening as well. The truth may hurt, but I think it is better than being lied to.