Topic: Allan McDonald, Thiokol director (1937-2021)
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 45848 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-07-2021 06:05 PM
Allan McDonald, who was the director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Project at Thiokol at the time of the STS-51L launch and led the SRM redesign in the wake of the tragedy, died on Saturday (March 6, 2021). He was 83.
His job was to sign and submit an official form. Sign the form, he believed, and he'd risk the lives of the seven astronauts set to board the spacecraft the next morning. Refuse to sign, and he'd risk his job, his career, and the good life he'd built for his wife and four children.
"And I made the smartest decision I ever made in my lifetime," McDonald told me. "I refused to sign it. I just thought we were taking risks we shouldn't be taking."
McDonald persistently cited three reasons for a delay: freezing overnight temperatures that could compromise the booster rocket joints; ice forming on the launch pad and spacecraft that could damage the orbiter heat tiles at launch; and forecast rough seas at the booster rocket recovery site.
He also told NASA officials, "If anything happens to this launch, I wouldn't want to be the person that has to stand in front of a board of inquiry to explain why we launched..."
Now, 35 years after Challenger, McDonald's family reports that he died Saturday in Ogden, Utah, after suffering a fall and brain damage.
Posts: 540 From: Houston, Texas Registered: Aug 2002
posted 03-08-2021 01:32 PM
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mode1charlie Member
Posts: 1237 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
posted 03-08-2021 02:22 PM
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nasamad Member
Posts: 2168 From: Essex, UK Registered: Jul 2001
posted 03-08-2021 02:22 PM
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star51L Member
Posts: 417 From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA Registered: Aug 2002
posted 03-08-2021 04:13 PM
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ejectr Member
Posts: 1822 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 03-08-2021 05:00 PM
Takes a hell of a man to remain unphased with your decision, when you know you're right and everyone else has go fever...
dss65 Member
Posts: 1234 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
posted 03-08-2021 06:06 PM
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DG27 Member
Posts: 194 From: USA Registered: Nov 2010
posted 03-08-2021 07:11 PM
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SpaceCadet1983 Member
Posts: 319 From: Pacific NW, United States Registered: May 2012
posted 03-08-2021 10:13 PM
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fredtrav Member
Posts: 1747 From: Birmingham AL Registered: Aug 2010
posted 03-09-2021 06:45 AM
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c670cj Member
Posts: 14 From: Renton, Washington Registered: Jul 2016
posted 03-09-2021 09:33 AM
I remember as a kid in El Lago that a friend of ours, Ed Wittry, worked at JSC and was an Environmental Systems Engineer for the Apollo Command Module. In 1966, he kept jumping up and down, claiming that a pressurized pure oxygen environment on the pad was a bomb waiting to go off, all to no avail. In frustration, he wrote a memo outlining his concerns to the team's director (over his bosses head and cc'd up the chain). He was immediately demoted and reassigned. Then in January 1967...well, you know the rest of the story.
Always distresses me when I hear all the NASA higher-ups in Apollo 1 documentaries claiming 'no one thought about the danger'... These types of programs where human life is at risk need more men of conviction like Mr. Wittry and Mr. McDonald.
cspg Member
Posts: 6245 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
posted 03-09-2021 10:37 AM
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RobertB Member
Posts: 214 From: Israel Registered: Nov 2012
posted 03-10-2021 12:18 AM
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Headshot Member
Posts: 981 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 03-07-2021 06:05 PM
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