Morton Thiokol, Inc.

Memorandum URGENT
To: Marshall Space Flight Center Staff & Management
From: Shaun Wilson, Engineer
Subject: Hazard risks concerning possible O-Ring Failure
Date: 27 December 1985

Principle
My engineering team requests that the Challenger shuttle launch be delayed and
immediate response to repairing the O-ring on the Challenger. My team and I have
come to the deduction that there is cause to delay the launch from our findings that the
primary O-ring are not fully functional to the required specifications and will potentially
cause a safety risk to the astronauts and the equipment.

Evidence
During our examinations of the equipment my team has found the secondary O-ring
to have been eroded due to the SRM 16A nozzle joint erosion (Windsor 104). Upon
further review our data shows that under resilience testing the O-ring was not
operating as it should. We tested to see if the secondary O-ring would suffice if there
was a mechanical failure with the primary O-ring and the test has shown that at 100˚F
the O-ring maintained contact. At 75˚F the O-ring lost contact for 2.4 seconds and at
50˚F the O-ring did not re-establish contact in ten minutes at which the test was
terminated (Winsor 105). With the findings at hand we feel the launch should be
delayed until we can fix the faulty O-ring or make sure that both primary and secondary
O-rings will work in unison to complete a safe launch.

Course of Action
I strongly request that my team and I are allowed to conduct further testing for a
proper arrangement of O-rings and to improve the risk output of the SRM joints to
avoid the loss of life and the Challenger.

STREET ADDRESS, CITY, ST ZIP CODE

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Data: The damage index is rated from 0 to 12 per each launch and the link between the
level of O-ring damage to the temperature of field joints at the time of launch.

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Works Cited

Tufte, Edward R. "Tufte Visual and Statistical Thinking.pdf." 1997. SFU.ca - Simon Fraser
University. Document. 4 15 2018

Winsor, D. A. "winsorcommunicationfailures.pdf." September 1988. WordPress. Article.

4 15 2018.