Roger Boisjoly was the engineer employed by Morton Thiokol, the company responsible for making the rocket boosters for the NASA Challenger launches. In January 1986, when NASA was faced with the decision of whether to postpone the launch of the Challenger (the one with teacher Christa McAuliffe aboard) yet a third time. The problem was that Florida was experiencing freezing temperatures, and Mr. Boisjoly had been studying the effect of freezing temperatures on the o-rings in the boosters. During a teleconference call between Morton Thiokol engineers and NASA, Mr. Boisjoly showed NASA executives photos of the damage cold temperatures did to the boosters and other Challenger shuttles. “How the hell can you ignore that?†was his question to the managers when he showed them the photos from his study. However, a Morton Thiokol general manager asked those resisting the launch to “take off their engineering hats and put on their management hats.â€
NASA went ahead with the launch. Mr. Boisjoly and his colleagues calculated that the problem would occur at liftoff, at 24 seconds. However, the Challenger launched and cleared the launch pad tower. Mr. Boisjoly and the others breathed a sigh of relief. However, 13 seconds later, at 37 seconds, the Challenger exploded, killing all of the crew and Ms. McAuliffe.
In subsequent years, Mr. Boisjoly spoke to both engineering and business students about the importance of standing firm and making your case clear. He encouraged them to work to help manager understand why they are so concerned about a particular action proposed by a company or agency. Despite all that he suffered following his firm stand (loss of his job, depression, health issues), Mr. Boisjoly was firm in his conviction that he would still do what he did and say what he said all over again if he were faced with the same or similar situation.
Mr. Boisjoly provided those of us who teach ethics in business and engineering a exemplary model for the key component of ethics: speaking up when you know there is a problem. His impact on students, engineers, and business people is perhaps far wider reaching than he ever realized. Mr. Boisjoly was known as a crackerjack engineer. Add to that description that he was one decent and ethical human being. The only thing he was wrong about in the entire NASA Challenger debate was the time. Not bad to be off by only 13 seconds. RIP.
