Challenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dies
Source: NPR
Bob Ebeling spent a third of his life consumed with guilt about the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. But at the end of his life, his family says, he was finally able to find peace.
"It was as if he got permission from the world," says his daughter Leslie Ebeling Serna. "He was able to let that part of his life go."
Ebeling died Monday at age 89 in Brigham City, Utah, after a long illness, according to his daughter Kathy Ebeling.
Hundreds of NPR readers and listeners helped Ebeling overcome persistent guilt in the weeks before his death. They sent supportive emails and letters after our January story marking the 30th anniversary of the Challenger tragedy.
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Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/21/470870426/challenger-engineer-who-warned-of-shuttle-disaster-dies
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)Damn.
Cassiopeia
(2,603 posts)I read a story about his personal torment over the last few decades.
May he rest in peace. He deserves it on every level available.
no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)He made the right call; he notified the proper authorities; and unfortunately his warnings were ignored/overridden by the Reagan Administration that was hellbent on having the Challenger in orbit in time for the 1986 State of the Union Address.
ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)You used "ignored/overridden", but i am doubt free that it's ONLY the latter. They got the warnings. They listened to the warnings.
Then, someone from the administration called the honchos at NASA and told them they WILL send that rocket up there, since the "teacher in space" piece was already in the SOTU speech.
They simply didn't care about the risks. They didn't ignore the warnings. The ignored the consequences.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,044 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)But, the fever was PR fever at the White House level.
RobinA
(9,878 posts)this man felt guilty for so long. He did what he could, spoke truth to power. For that he should have been proud. Sometimes the truth just isn't powerful enough.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)So what if some engineers were worried about the cold messing up a rubber seal? They had a photo op with the teacher in space to think about.
Pruneface's handlers put off the speech for a week.
Oneironaut
(5,462 posts)He didn't deserve the guilt. He tried to tell them, but the yes-men walked over him and demanded that the launch be done. It
was a systematic failure.
farleftlib
(2,125 posts)and it saddens me that he felt guilt for so long over something he tried his best to prevent.
May he R.I.P.