Xref: utzoo sci.space:8246 sci.space.shuttle:1968
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!dasys1!tneff
From: tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: space news from Sept 12 AW&ST
Message-ID: <7734@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 16 Nov 88 18:17:26 GMT
References: <1988Nov4.065730.10761@utzoo.uucp> <7594@dasys1.UUCP> <1988Nov14.214139.1892@utzoo.uucp>
Reply-To: tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff)
Organization: Independent Users Guild
Lines: 30

In article <1988Nov14.214139.1892@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
-In article <7594@dasys1.UUCP> tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff) writes:
->Very easy to bash Thiokol after the fact, but remember it was Thiokol
->engineers protesting the decision to launch Challenger and NASA's
->mid-level managers browbeating the vendor into going along...
-
-And Thiokol managers who ultimately made the decision to ignore the
-engineers and tell the customer what he wanted to hear.  Don't forget,
-what NASA eventually heard was not "well, we disagree but we'll go
-along", it was "we've reconsidered and now see no problem".  NASA is
-hardly blameless for the pressure it applied, but it was Thiokol, not
-NASA, that ultimately decided to ignore the problem.  Would NASA have
-gone ahead if Thiokol had stuck to its guns?  Impossible to be sure,
-but I don't think so.
-
-Being honorable under pressure is difficult, yes.  It's ever so much
-simpler to take the easy way out and say "I vas chust following orders".

Thiokol was concurrently negotiating a contract renewal.  The pressure
to "go along" under those circumstances is unbearable.  Also note that
Rockwell had doubts and withdrew them (although the decision process
was quite controversial).  Until and unless we put every contractor in
the excruciating position Thiokol was in and compare their performance,
I consider it unfair to single out Thiokol for not dealing well with
improper NASA pressure.

-- 
Tom Neff			UUCP: ...!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!tneff
	"None of your toys	CIS: 76556,2536	       MCI: TNEFF
	 will function..."	GEnie: TOMNEFF	       BIX: t.neff (no kidding)