What they didn't want you to know

We all watched in shock and disbelief when Challenger was lost. Probably no one felt more disappointment and regret than Allan McDonald, who had warned us not to launch that day. His story tells of loss, grief, and the eventual rebuilding and recovery.--Robert Hoot Gibson, former Space Shuttle pilot and commander

A major contribution to a difficult episode in the history of human spaceflight.--Roger D. Launius, Division of Space History, Smithsonian Institution

McDonald tells the heartbreaking tale of how he saw his words of warning ignored, and the fateful consequences of that decision.--Donald C. Elder III, Eastern New Mexico University

On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals, including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory.

In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses all of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission.

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings is the first look at the Challenger tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-Challenger flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of Columbia some fifteen years later.

Allan J. McDonald received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University in 1959 and an M.S. in Engineering Administration from the University of Utah in 1967; retiring in 2001 from ATK Thiokol Propulsion after a 42-year career with the company.  He was the Director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Project at the time of the Challenger accident and led the redesign of the solid rocket motors as Vice President of Engineering for Space Operations.  

He has several patents related to rocket propulsion, published over 80 technical papers that have been presented in national and international conferences, and received numerous professional awards.

He received an Honorary Doctor of Engineering from Montana State University in 1986, was selected as Montana State University’s Centennial Alumnus in 1987 by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, is a Fellow member and a Distinguished Lecturer for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and was a member of the Board of Directors of Orbital Technologies Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin from 1992-2014 prior to the merger of ORBITEC with Sierra Nevada Corporation in 2014.  

He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Air Force Test Pilots School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, a member of Dr. Mark Maier’s Servant Leadership Program at Chapman University in Orange, CA, and a member of an “Engineering Ethics Panel” funded by a grant from the United Engineering Fund.

Mr. McDonald published a book in 2009 through the University Press of Florida titled: Truth, Lies, and O-rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster with Dr. James R. Hansen, author of the New York Times bestseller FIRST MAN – The Life of Neil A. Armstrong (Simon & Schuster 2005) and he also provided a chapter to the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Vol. 2, Propulsion and Power, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., December 2010.

Allan McDonald is the only person in American history that was reinstated to his job by an act of Congress.    

Source: American Institute of Chemical Engineers