Excerpts From Probe Testimony

Here are excerpts from testimony Tuesday before the presidential commission investigating the Challenger explosion:

Allan J. McDonald, Morton Thiokol engineer who opposed the launching:

“I made the direct statement that, if anything happened to this launch, I told them I sure wouldn’t want to be the person who had to stand in front of a board of inquiry to explain why I launched this outside the qualifications of the solid rocket motor or any shuttle system. When I made that statement, no one commented about it. I was still very upset. So I asked that they reconsider.”

Bob Lund, Morton Thiokol vice president for engineering, on why he changed his mind and recommended a launching:

“I guess I didn’t realize until after that (prelaunching) meeting that we had absolutely changed our positions from what we had before. I guess I never heard those kinds of things come from Marshall (Space Flight Center), that we had to prove to them that we were ready. So we got ourselves in the thought process that we were trying to find some way to prove to them that it wouldn’t work. We were unable to do that.”

Morton Thiokol Executive Vice President Gerald Mason:

“Cost pressure definitely had no bearing on (the decision). From the schedule standpoint, we take a lot of pride in the fact that we’ve supported all the launches to date, and, if there was any pressure, we wanted to continue to do the job we’ve been doing. And that kind of situation exists every time . . . . We only polled the management people because we had already established we were not going to be unanimous.”

Brian Russell, a young Morton Thiokol engineer:

“I had the feeling that we were in the position of having to prove it was unsafe instead of the other way around, and it was a totally new experience . . . . There was a nervousness there that we were increasing the risk, and I believe all of us knew if it were increased to the level of an O-ring burn-through what the consequences would be. I don’t think there was any question in anyone’s mind about that.”

Roger Boisjoly, Morton Thiokol engineer:

“After Arnie and I had our last say, Mr. Mason said we have to make a management decision. He turned to Bob Lund and asked him to take off his engineering hat and put on his management hat. From this point on, management formulated the point to base their decision on . . . . There was never one comment in favor of launching by any engineer or other non-managment person in the room.”