Feb 25 1986
From The Space Library
James M. Beggs resigned as NASA's Administrator. Candidates President Ronald Reagan was considering for the job included James C. Fletcher, Thomas O. Paine, James A. Abrahamson, Frank Borman, Harrison Schmitt, and Lew Allen. (NY Times, Feb 25/86; WSJ, Feb 26/86)
Engineers from Morton Thiokol gave testimony before the President's Commission that the decision to launch the ill-fated Shuttle was a management initiative, and they suggest that those people had ignored o-ring safety data. The engineers testified that their decision-making process was reversed as the burden of proof shifted and was now on them to show that the launch would be unsafe. Contrary to what a number of engineers stated to the Commission, one management official testified that there was no undue pressure from NASA to go ahead with the launch and that management's decision was based solely on available data. (B Sun, Feb 26/86; NY Times, Feb 26/86; W Post, Feb 26/86; W Times, Feb 26/86)
NASA's acting administrator Dr. William R. Graham announced that he would not hesitate to make substantial changes wherever they might be war-ranted in the organization. Graham said, "That goes not only for the [launch] decision-making process, but also for engineering, design, vehicle certification and qualification." (W Times, Feb 26/86)
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