17 Facts About Roger Boisjoly

Roger Mark Boisjoly was an American mechanical engineer, fluid dynamicist, and an aerodynamicist.

Roger Boisjoly is best known for having raised strenuous objections to the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger months before the loss of the spacecraft and its crew in January 1986.

Roger Boisjoly was born on April 25,1938, in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Roger Boisjoly grew up in the neighborhood of Belvidere as the son of a mill worker and one of three brothers.

Roger Boisjoly studied mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Roger Boisjoly started his career at a used-aircraft company in western Massachusetts, before moving to California for work.

Roger Boisjoly subsequently worked for companies in California on lunar module life-support systems and the moon vehicle.

Roger Boisjoly later worked for Morton Thiokol, the manufacturer of the solid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle program.

Roger Boisjoly wrote a memo in July 1985 to his superiors concerning the faulty design of the solid rocket boosters that, if left unaddressed, could lead to a catastrophic event during launch of a Space Shuttle.

Roger Boisjoly's investigation showed that the amount of damage to the O-ring depended on the length of time it took for the ring to move out of its groove and make the seal, and that the amount of time depended on the temperature of the rings.

Roger Boisjoly determined that if the O-rings were damaged enough they could fail.

Roger Boisjoly's investigation found that the first O-ring failed because the low temperatures on the night before the flight had compromised the flexibility of the O-ring, reducing its ability to form a seal.

Roger Boisjoly sent a memo describing the problem to his managers, but was apparently ignored.

In late 1985, Roger Boisjoly advised his managers that if the problem was not fixed, there was a distinct chance that a shuttle mission would end in disaster.

Roger Boisjoly felt that this would severely compromise the safety of the O-ring and potentially the flight.

When Roger Boisjoly left Morton Thiokol, he took 14 boxes containing every note and paper he received or sent in seven years.

Roger Boisjoly died on January 6,2012, in Nephi, Utah, shortly after a diagnosis of cancer in the colon, kidneys, and liver.