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[i]As an engineer in charge of building rocket boosters for NASA, McDonald knew that the plan to launch the Challenger space shuttle on Jan. 28, 1986, was flawed because one of the pieces wouldn't hold up in the cold temperatures predicted for that day. McDonald and other scientists explained this to NASA the night before launch, but their objections were disregarded. He then refused to sign off on the required launch recommendation report, even knowing that his career could be on the line. ...To help the public better understand what went wrong with the Challenger, McDonald announced last week, with the 30th anniversary of the disaster only a couple of days away, that he would be donating his papers and other artifacts to Chapman University in Orange. These materials will join those of Roger Boisjoly, one of McDonald's colleagues who also opposed the Challenger launch. "These primary source documents allow students to delve in and see exactly the decision making process that was going on at the time," said Rand Boyd, coordinator of special collections and archives at Chapman.[/i]
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