We all know how the story of NASA’s space shuttle, Challenger, ended. But how did it begin?
This book by Adam Higginbotham isn’t really my thing, so I had initially dismissed it. But I kept seeing it everywhere and everyone was raving about it. So I finally gave in and listened to the audiobook.
It’s still not really my thing.
The book starts off slow, and it took me a long time to get into it, but I want to give credit where credit is due because Higginbotham does start slow for a reason, and it does pay off.
Higginbotham takes his time introducing us to each of the astronauts who went up in Challenger, giving us a sense of their history so we can understand how they became astronauts, as well as other aspects of their history and personal life.
He doesn’t dive as deep into the histories of the engineers who built Challenger, but he does include relevant histories, including how they came to work at NASA and some of the other projects they worked on, including some of the projects that ended as tragically as Challenger. That gave us a chance to see how those experiences influenced their work on Challenger, including those who tried to stop the launch from happening.
In addition to the astronauts who made it onto Challenger, Higginbotham also devotes a significant amount of time to talking about some of the astronauts who didn’t make it into space and why. He talks about the sexism and racism that made it harder for women and Black people to get through the space program, even after they had passed all the tests.
My favorite was the story of the teacher who won the contest to make it onto Challenger and be the first civilian to go into space. I found myself rooting for her and even cheering when she won the contest before I remembered how the story ends. It’s a testament to Higginbotham’s ability to transport you back in time, not just to the 1980s, but to a world before Challenger exploded and people were feeling confident about the space program’s ability to safely take a civilian into space.
As much as I appreciated Higginbotham’s focus on the human element of this tragedy, we can’t talk about Challenger without talking about the engineers who created, tested, and approved the shuttle for space travel despite all the warning signs.
I’m no engineer, but even I thought it was insane for parts of the shuttle to be tested horizontally, rather than vertically, even though they have to be vertical when the shuttle takes off.
It was also hard to believe anyone could have looked at the damage that had been done to the O-rings on Challenger (which are needed to prevent gas from leaking out of the engine) and still clear it for takeoff. It was clear the O-rings were not doing their job, even at much higher temperatures.
To clear the space shuttle for takeoff after all that was ridiculous, but it just adds insult to injury to blame the disaster on the cold when the O-rings had shown such clear signs of failure without the cold.
Again, I have to admit I felt relief when the team finally listened to reason and agreed to delay the shuttle’s takeoff. Higginbotham did such a good job of transporting me back to that moment, and to conveying the relief of the few sane engineers trying to ring the alarm bells, that I temporarily forgot there had to be a later launch date.
I wish I could say this book ends with everyone finally understanding the error of their ways and putting policies and procedures in place to make sure it never happens again, but of course that’s not what happens. There’s a big Blame Game with lots of finger pointing, which did involve some of the right people getting sacked, but also involved some of the wrong people taking the blame.
At the end of the day, nothing much changed. The company that should have had its contract with NASA cancelled as a result of providing the disastrous O-rings got to keep their contract and continue making lots of money.
Turns out there really aren’t any consequences for the powerful and prestigious, no matter how tragic the disaster they cause.