Allan J. McDonald retired as vice president and technical director for advanced technology programs at ATK Thiokol Propulsion in 2001. He was the director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Project at the time of the Challenger accident and, later, vice president of engineering for space operations during the redesign and requalification of the solid rocket motors. James R. Hansen is professor of history and director of the Honors College at Auburn University. He is the author of First Man, an award-winning biography of Neil Armstrong which spent three weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.
Foreword: The Place of the McDonald Memoir in Challenger History | p. xi |
Preface | p. xv |
Prologue | p. 1 |
Red Flags | |
When It Rains It Pours | p. 9 |
Tests and "No Tests" | p. 23 |
Dire Warning | p. 39 |
A Total O-Ring Failure | p. 49 |
An Impotent Task Force | p. 63 |
"In the Interest of Avoiding Pain" | p. 73 |
Misdiagnosis | |
The Teleconference | p. 91 |
The Caucus | p. 107 |
"Obviously, a Major Malfunction" | p. 117 |
"Don't Blame Yourself" | p. 125 |
"When Is the Space Shuttle Going Up, Daddy?" | p. 132 |
Search for the Truth | |
Shocking the Presidential Commission | p. 157 |
Cover-up | p. 164 |
"God, That Took a Lot of Guts" | p. 174 |
A Leper in the Limelight | p. 189 |
Walking Out | p. 197 |
"The Extremes of Allowable Engineering" | p. 211 |
Changing Hats and Minds | p. 224 |
Obfuscation | |
Rationalization and Innuendo | p. 243 |
31 Degrees? | p. 263 |
Houston, You Have a Problem | p. 274 |
Finger Pointing | p. 285 |
The Apocalypse Letter | p. 303 |
"Trouble with Your Logic" | p. 313 |
The Monkey Changes Backs | p. 323 |
Commissioners and Congressmen | |
The Green Bell Theory | p. 343 |
Commencement | p. 356 |
Commodore Locke Assailed in Washington | p. 369 |
The Buck Stops Here? | p. 382 |
No Consensus | |
The Bell Tolls for Thee | p. 403 |
Redesign and Resurrection | p. 422 |
Biosjoly's $2 Billion Lawsuit | p. 439 |
No Mountain Too High | p. 451 |
The Peacekeeper Explosion | p. 464 |
Witness for the Defense...and Prosecution | p. 473 |
Confirming the Silver Bullet | p. 483 |
Return-to-Flight | |
Flight of the Phoenix | p. 509 |
Premonitions | p. 522 |
Dissolution | p. 543 |
Requiem | p. 552 |
Acknowledgments | p. 569 |
Big Sky Values: A Biography of Allan J. McDonald | p. 573 |
List of Abbreviations | p. 585 |
Bibliographical Essay | p. 587 |
Further Reading | p. 615 |
Index | p. 617 |
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