Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day June 11th, 1986, a report is presented to President Ronald Reagan and then there

are a number of very high profile hearings and it's all the result of an investigation by a presidential commission into the space shuttle

Challenger disaster.

Challenger had exploded shortly after liftoff on January 28, 1986.

It killed all seven people on board and the launch, among many other things that made

it notable was the fact that it was broadcast live to school children and science classrooms

around the country.

And now about five months later, a final report

laid out the cascading problems that led to the disaster.

Ultimately, the technical reason for the disaster

came down to a faulty O-ring. Here is the

language if you're interested. I'm quoting here a failure in the o-ring

sealing the aft field joint on the right solid rocket booster causing

pressurized hot gases and eventually

flame to blow by the O-ring and contact the adjacent external tank causing structural

failure.

So that's the technical reason, but really the report painted a picture of human failure and organizational failure, and a really interesting picture of how bureaucracy and poor management can lead to genuine tragedy.

So let's talk about the Rogers Commission report, the challenge. can lead to genuine tragedy.

So let's talk about the Rogers Commission report, the Challenger disaster, and some

of the larger lessons therein.

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