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Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
- Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 26 hrs and 32 mins
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Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
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Summary
On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory.
In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters.
In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses all of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission.
Truth, Lies, and O-Rings is the first look at the Challenger tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-Challenger flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of Columbia some 15 years later.
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What listeners say about Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- William Rymer
- 10-06-20
True conspiratorial masterpiece
Very heavy at times in terms of engineering jargon, but I guess that's why you are here!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Karim B
- 23-02-20
Amazing story, great book - a must read.
Amazing story from a great engineer who stayed true to his values despite major adversity
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-11-20
If you like detail, a very though and detailed account, thank you Allen.
This book is a though and detailed account of how the Space Shuttle Challenger accident happened. I remember arriving home from school to see it on the news. Now I know what lead up to the accident and how unsafe it really was with previous missions only being seconds away from disaster after reviewing the used SRB’s.
Allen J McDonald must have recounted in his head the events over and over again, meeting after meeting, the enquiry then deliberations to the point where it took over his life so he could eventually succeed in helping return the Space Shuttle program to safe flight. I think writing this book must have helped him deal with the Challenger accident by putting it down on paper. Many would have walked away.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nathan
- 07-01-19
Engineering best practise guide
Engaging throughout a must for any engineer ... ever had your boss ask you to cut corners and you refused? If you ever need reassurance you did the right thing this is the book for you ... first class
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jtwestie
- 27-06-19
Great insight into shocking cultural issues
As an engineer, this read provides a fascinating insight into the ethical, moral and cultural issues present at both NASA and Morton Thiokol leading up to the Challenger disaster. A must read for anybody involved in safety critical work.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jim
- 15-03-24
Incredible story to hear.
If I were to explain the story it would seem technical and dry. But nome how it's fascinating and engaging. There are many shocking moments of "how could this have happened".
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- juho kojima
- 30-09-20
Listen I did nothing wrong... IT WAS THE OTHERS
It seams that Mr. McDonald is a saint and everyone else are the are the devils. The author presents himself as the knight in shining armor who saved the STS program by himself. At first I thought, what a unselfish and great guy. As the story went on and on and on and... I got so fed-up with the self centered need of McDonald to show and tell how great he was/is ugh.
The book is WAY TOO TECHNICAL. You could have edited ten hours out of the book just by cutting technical terms and explanations that go on and on pages upon pages.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 23-06-22
A truly inspirational man.
loved this book from start to finish, Allan Mcdonald is a legend and is probably responsible for saving many lives.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- David B.
- 20-02-19
A dull, bitter man describes meetings
Couldn't finish it. The author comes across as bitter and instead of the drama and engineering details of the shuttle program we're treated to verbatim transcripts of meetings and the trivial doings of people of no importance within Thiakol. Very dull.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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- Alan Hough
- 11-03-21
A blur of confusing anachronisms throughout!
Alan Hough
Really disappointing audio book unless you have a fantastic memory for the hundreds of anachronisms that are used. The author is obviously devastated by the accident and the adverse effects on his life are enormous,but he comes across as self serving white knight. Ie I know what happened, I tried to stop it, I’ve been gagged, woe is me. The author comes across as someone who, post accident wanted to be in the limelight and enjoyed the attention and became bitter when his role relating to the accident was diminished. What could have been a great book by a man who was right in the middle of the disaster ends up coming across as a therapy session for a disgruntled ex employee and that’s a shame. Maybe the audio book is not the correct format for this fact laden story and it would be easier to follow in hard back form.
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