ENCORE: Challenger Disaster | Launch Day | 3

Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research. A listener note, this episode originally aired in 2024. It's January 27th, 1986 at 6 p.m. in Titusville, Florida, a few miles from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Al McDonald, the director of Morton Thiokol's Space Shuttle rocket program, is staying in Titusville at a colleague's house. He's in town for the latest mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which is expected to be the most watched launch in the shuttle program's history, thanks to the presence of Krista McAuliffe, the high-spec pilot of the shuttle, and a high school teacher who's about to become the first civilian in space. There's so much anticipation around the launch that McDonald couldn't find a hotel room. Everything for miles around Cape Canaveral is booked. But McDonald is not sharing in that excitement. Instead, he's sitting alone at his colleague's kitchen table, holding his head in his hands. He's just received a call from someone at Thiokol's headquarters in Utah, urging him to postpone tomorrow's launch. According to the weather forecast, overnight temperatures, at Cape Canaveral, are expected to plunge below freezing. And that's a big problem. McDonald's company, Thiokol, is responsible for manufacturing the thin rubber O-rings that seal the joints on the shuttle's two rocket boosters. And based on their testing, Thiokol engineers have determined that the O-rings become unreliable at temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If even one set of them were to fail during launch, the entire shuttle could explode. Given this risk, delaying the launch is a big problem. A launch should be an easy call to make, but McDonald knows it won't be. Thanks to the presence of McAuliffe, this Challenger mission has become a media circus. And it was already postponed once this morning after a series of other technical issues. McDonald knows that NASA is under intense pressure to avoid any further delays, and that asking the agency to postpone a second time could jeopardize Thiokol's relationship with their biggest client. So McDonald is going to need to present NASA with data showing why a postponement is necessary. McDonald picks up the phone and dials Bob Ebeling, a senior Thiokol engineer back in Utah. Hello, this is Bob Ebeling. Hey Bob, it's Al McDonald here on the Cape. Hey Al, how's the beautiful Florida weather? Not so beautiful. They're saying it could be 26 degrees during the launch window tomorrow. That low? You might as well be launching from Chicago. Well, that's why I called. Sounds like you and the other engineers in Utah are unanimous that under these conditions, tomorrow's launch needs to be canceled. Yeah, that's right. I was already worried sick about it, but below freezing, ugh. I'm right there with you, but we need to get the decision makers at Thiokol and NASA to agree. All right, what do you need? I need to have your guys estimate how cold O-rings will get inside the boosters if the temperature outside is 25 degrees, 30 degrees, 35 degrees, etc. And then calculate how the O-rings will perform in each and every scenario. All right. Then I need you to come up with a definitive minimum temperature for the O-rings to function properly and ensure a safe launch. Well, I can tell you right now, if it's anything close to those temperatures in the forecast, the O-rings are not going to form a tight seal. Yeah, but we need a firm, specific number we all agree on, and we need to stick to it. Okay, I understand. I'll put it together. I appreciate it, but it's going to be tough. There's going to be a big conference call between everyone at Thiokol and NASA at 8 p.m. tonight. You've only got about two hours to gather the data. Oh, wow. Okay. Well, we'll do the best we can. Don't waste any time. We've been together. Any fancy slides, just get the numbers squared away. We need to make sure this is an engineering decision, not some management decision. Understood, Al. I'll have those numbers for you as soon as possible. As McDonald hangs up, he's already thinking about the next call he has to make. And he's dreading it. He needs to talk to Larry Molloy, the hard-headed NASA manager who oversees the rocket booster program. McDonald has a feeling Molloy will be the most difficult to convince in this upcoming meeting, and he needs to begin. He's easing him into the idea of canceling tomorrow's launch. The lives of seven astronauts could depend on it. Police in Irvine, California, are investigating the double murder of a young couple in the parking lot of their apartment complex. A double homicide grabs the public's attention by the throat. We have identified Christopher Dorner as a suspect in this double homicide. A former cop, and still on the loose. Considered armed and extremely dangerous. And scariest of all, he left something behind. A particular interest is a multi-page manifesto. This manifesto on Facebook is 11 pages long. Trace, this manifesto from this suspect who's targeting cops, it's stunning. Listen to the show The New Yorker calls one of the best podcasts of the summer. Dan Taberski's Manifesto. And I tell you, this manifesto, it scares the hell out of me. Listen to Dan Taberski's Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts, or binge the entire series right now. Only with Audible. From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal. American Scandal. American Scandal. In January of 1986, NASA was ready for the most high-profile launch yet of its four-year-old space shuttle program, the Teacher in Space mission, which would send the first American civilian, Krista McAuliffe, into orbit aboard the Challenger. But behind the scenes, there were warning signs that the mission might not go according to plan. As far back as four years ago, in 1982, the NASA mission was ready for the first American civilian, Krista McAuliffe, to go into orbit aboard the Challenger. two, engineers had identified a design flaw in a key component of the shuttle, the synthetic rubber gaskets called O-rings, which formed the seals between different segments of the rocket boosters that propelled the shuttle into orbit. After several shuttle launches, when the boosters were recovered, the O-rings had been partially burned away by leaking rocket fuel. So far, the leaks had not caused a catastrophic failure. But at Morton Thiokol, the contractor that had built the rockets, some engineers became convinced that with each passing launch, NASA was playing Russian roulette with the lives of its astronauts. While trying to find a solution to the O-ring issue, Thiokol engineer Roger Beaujolais identified the likeliest cause, cold temperatures, which made the synthetic rubber brittle and unable to form a tight seal. But when he presented his concerns to engineering colleagues at NASA, he was told, we don't want to hear that. One of the space shuttle's primary functions was to deliver military and communications satellites into orbit. And prove that space travel could be as routine and cost-effective as commercial air travel. So NASA was under intense pressure to stick to an ambitious schedule of more than a dozen launches a year. And to them, the known flaw in the O-rings constituted an acceptable risk. But when it became clear that NASA was planning to launch the Challenger in temperatures below freezing, engineers realized they had to take a stand. This is Episode 3, Launch Day. It's 8.15 p.m. on the night of January 27, 1986, at Morton Thiokol Headquarters in Utah. Inside a glass-walled conference room, Robert Beaujolais and a dozen of his fellow engineers are seated around a table, along with a handful of Thiokol executives. In just a few minutes, they'll be joining an emergency teleconference with NASA, and the tension in the room is palpable. Beaujolais is on a mission tonight to convince the executives at NASA and his own company to cancel the Challenger. But he's not entirely confident in the materials he has to make his case. Beaujolais and his colleagues have only had a few hours to prepare for this meeting, so all they've managed to cobble together are some hand-drawn charts and rough estimates. They've also been left with no time to coordinate with each other and rehearse what they're going to say, and time has run out. As the Thiokol executive clicks on the speakerphone, the teleconference begins. Beaujolais' fellow engineer, Brian Russell, starts by giving an overview of the history of the O-ring issue. And then it's Beaujolais' turn to speak. He directs everyone's attention to a hand-made sketch illustrating the basic design of each joint on the rocket boosters, which has been faxed over to NASA for review. Beaujolais reminds everyone that the O-ring's function is to expand quickly to seal the booster joint and prevent a fuel leak. To do this effectively, each O-ring has to be flexible enough to expand within milliseconds. And if it does not, and superheated gas begins to escape through the joint, it can burn the O-rings, making the leak progressively worse. Beaujolais goes on to point out that tomorrow morning is projected to be 20 degrees colder than any shuttle launch in history, and at temperatures that cold, the O-rings become less elastic, rendering them incapable of doing the one thing they were designed to do, expanding quickly to seal the booster joint, preventing a leak and quite possibly an explosion. As Beaujolais ends his presentation, he sits back in his chair, hoping that his message has finally come through. But before he can tell the truth, take a breath, he hears a familiar, skeptical voice over the speakerphone. Larry Molloy, the manager of NASA's Solid Rocket Booster program, is joining the call from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. And he asks if Beaujolais has any more data to share. Beaujolais says he doesn't, but he remains firm on his key point. The numbers he does have clearly show that the colder it gets, the worse the O-rings perform. Molloy pauses for a moment before announcing that Beaujolais is just making assumptions. He says that Diacol's data is thin and inconclusive, and he notes that in other cool weather launches, most of the booster's joints performed fine. Beaujolais admits that Molloy is technically correct. Not every O-ring launched in cold weather has shown signs of damage. But he reminds Molloy that NASA bears the burden to prove that a launch is safe before signing off on it. But Molloy snaps back, declaring that the burden of proof is on Diacol. If they want to halt the launch, then they have to do it. Molloy says that the O-rings are not safe, but they have to prove it's not safe. And unless they can do that, the launch will remain on schedule. Beaujolais is left speechless. Molloy seems to be changing NASA's safety policy just hours before launch. Beaujolais looks around at his fellow engineers for help, but they appear to be just as stunned as he is. The emergency teleconference continues for another hour, with other Diacol engineers stepping in to offer their analysis and opinion. All of them are unanimous in their support for canceling the launch. And then finally, after all the discussion, NASA asks Diacol's management for their official recommendation. Bob Lund, Diacol's vice president for engineering, says that based on the available data, he would not recommend launching at temperatures below 53 degrees. And Joseph Kilminster, the vice president for the rocket booster program, agrees. But NASA's Larry Molloy still won't consent to canceling the launch. He continues to poke holes in the Diacol engineer's reasoning, citing multiple examples of the launch. Molloy says that the launch is not a good idea. He points out that the subcontractor that makes the O-rings says that they can perform in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees. Molloy also accuses the Diacol engineers of trying to change their launch criteria at the last minute, and notes angrily that if he accepts this 53-degree cutoff, he could wreak havoc on NASA's entire schedule of upcoming shuttle launches. With attention on the call growing by the minute, Kilminster suggests that his team of Diacol engineers and managers take a break to discuss the issue internally, and puts the speakerphone on mute. Sitting at the head of the table, Kilminster looks around the room. As a senior leader on the booster program, he knows his opinion carries a lot of weight. But he feels trapped between a rock and a hard place. He understands the engineers' position and sides with them. But as an executive, he also has to weigh his company's business concerns. If his president based on temperature, he could be jeopardizing Diacol's entire relationship with NASA. Senior Vice President Jerry Mason, the highest-ranking Diacol executive in the room, speaks first. He argues that yes, the O-rings have shown damage in previous launches, but they've been able to avoid total failure so far. Each joint has a secondary O-ring, and those have always functioned successfully as a backup. But hearing this, Roger Beaujolais leaps from his seat, storms across the room, and slams the O-rings open. He says, a photo on the table in front of Mason. It's a picture of both the primary and secondary O-rings from a launch last January, and both are clearly singed, covered in black soot. Kilminster is still leaning towards siding with the engineers, and he hopes Beaujolais' outburst is enough to sway Mason. But Mason just silently glares at Beaujolais until the engineer finally returns to his seat. After nearly half an hour of debate, Mason announces that he's going to poll the room on the O-rings. He explains the engineers will not be getting a vote. Only the vice presidents will be deciding the challengers' fate, which means Mason, Kilminster, Lund, and fellow executive Cal Wiggins have a decision to make, and it has to be unanimous. As they go around a table, Kilminster feels a knot growing in his stomach. Mason votes first, saying he thinks they should go ahead with the launch. Then Mason turns to Wiggins, who quickly agrees with Mason, and Kilminster isn't surprised. Wiggins is Mason's loyalist. Then Mason turns to Kilminster for his vote. He pauses to consider, knowing the engineers are right, tomorrow's launch is too risky. But now his boss is staring him down, and Kilminster realizes that if he votes no, Mason could hold him personally responsible for losing Thiokol's most important contract. So Kilminster lowers his head, unable to look his engineers in the eyes, and quietly says he thinks they should launch. Now the final vote comes down to Lund, and Mason tells him to take off his engineering hat and put on his management hat. It's time to step up and make a business decision. Kilminster watches as Lund puts both hands into the air, palms facing forward like a soldier surrendering at gunpoint. Then Lund says he agrees with Mason they should recommend the launch. Kilminster feels nauseous, knowing there's no turning back from here. He unmutes the speakerphone and announces to his counterparts at NASA that while the Thiokol executives remain concerned about the temperature, they agree that the engineers' data is inconclusive, and they are now recommending the Challenger launch should go forward. Larry Molloy is pleased to hear this, but others within NASA are surprised by the sudden reversal. Looking to provide cover, NASA executive George Hardy tells Thiokol that he'll need to have their official recommendation put into writing. So they look to Al McDonald, the lead Thiokol manager on the ground in Cape Canaveral, to lend his signature. McDonald remains adamant that the launch should not go forward, and refuses to put his name on the recommendation. He explains that if anything goes wrong with the shuttle tomorrow, he does not want to be the one who has to answer it. So any signed recommendation will have to come from Thiokol headquarters in Yutong. Joseph Kilminster and Bob Lund exchange a look. Just moments ago, they reversed their position on the launch, and now they're being pressured to sign their names to that decision. But ultimately, they know they have no choice. After the launch, they're going to call ends. Kilminster and Lund stay behind to draft the document recommending that NASA proceed with the Challenger launch as scheduled. And in the end, Kilminster is the one who signs his name to it. By now, it's nearly midnight, and at Cape Canaveral, temperatures are continuing to drop. And on launch pad 39B, NASA crews are attempting to prepare for the morning's launch in record breaking cold. But when Charlie Stevenson, leader of the Kennedy Space Center ICE team, arrives at launch pad 39B, he's going to be the one to sign his name to it. And he's going to be the one to sign it. He's shocked by what he sees. Icicles 18 inches long cover the launch tower. Standing on the top level, at the same height as the Challenger's nose, he has to hold tight to the railing just to prevent himself from slipping on the ice beneath his feet. With a launch still scheduled for 9.30am, only about five hours from now, Stevenson needs to start cleaning the ice from around the shuttle quickly. He steps into an elevator and rides it 20 stories down to the top. Arriving at the bottom, he's met by one of his ICE team colleagues. As they shiver in the cold wind, Stevenson prioritizes what to tackle first. All right, let's take a look at the sound suppression troughs first. Copy that and watch your step, boss. I nearly broke my neck between here and the launcher platform. The sound suppression troughs sit below the rocket nozzles and are filled with water that absorbs the acoustic shockwave of the rockets at liftoff. But when they arrive at the first trough, Stevenson is stunned to discover that the water has a thick sheen of ice on top. Oh man, we could play hockey on this. How is this even possible? Didn't they add the antifreeze? About 1,400 gallons worth. Apparently it didn't do the trick. Man, there's no way they're going to actually launch this thing today, right? No, not a chance. I saw nearly two-foot icicles hanging from the top of the gantry. When those things get shaken loose during launch, they're going to cut through the thermal protection tiles like a knife. Launch control wants us to go through the bottom of the gantry. But what's wrong with it? Stevenson and his team of technicians begin breaking up the ice and using long-handled nets to skim the chunks out of the troughs. It's exhausting work, made all the more challenging by the frigid cold. When Stevenson can no longer feel his fingers, he stands back to examine their progress. It's looking better. Let's get some temperature readings for the logbook. Stevenson's colleague hands him an infrared thermometer, and Stevenson holds it beneath the exhaust nozzle at the bottom of the left booster. Wow, 25 degrees, but I guess that's to be expected. It's about the same as the ambient air temperature. Let's check the other booster. The two men walk gingerly across the icy launch pad to the right booster, careful not to slip. Man, this one is 8 degrees, but the boosters are identical. How is this one 17 degrees lower? That can't be right. The thermometer must be malfunctioning. This is getting ridiculous. The launch has to be scrubbed. Meanwhile, we're out here killing time until the boss is back. Stevenson and his team of technicians are getting ready for the launch. Stevenson's colleague heads toward the elevator. Stevenson looks up the launch tower, and beside it, the Challenger, glittering in the moonlight. From his earlier inspection, Stevenson knows that most of what's glittering is ice. Nearly every support beam, walkway, and cable is covered in a layer of the stuff. And in all his years at NASA, he's never seen anything like it. Stevenson checks his watch and tries to guess how many more hours it will be until the manager arrives on site and sees how bad the ice is because he feels sure that once they do they'll make the only call they can to cancel the launch you stepped out for your morning jog except it's not your usual morning jog you started listening to an epic sci-fi book on audible 30 chapters later you've accidentally run a half marathon you lost track of how far you've run somewhere just past the city limits you can't stop you have to find out what happens next then it's over the universe seems bigger you feel different you feel like you have no idea where you are audible stories that speak to you imagine you're reading pride and prejudice except you're not reading it harris dickinson and marissa abella are reading it to you on audible her barbs sting you his cold now censors shiver up your spine your heart aches your ears burn you yearn for elizabeth and mr darcy to profess their undying love for one another you can't bear it any longer well maybe a chapter longer performance is so good you'll give love a second chance audible stories that speak to you in the early morning hours of january 28th 1986 many of the people at cape canaveral expect the challenger launch to be canceled including the astronauts but the official call has yet to be made some at nasa are especially concerned about the icicle still coating the shuttle's launch tower they're also worried about the gusty winds blowing offshore which might make it difficult to retrieve the solid rocket boosters after they fall into the atlantic but nasa's rocket booster program manager lindsay is the one who's going to be responsible for the launch of the shuttle larry malloy expresses no concern he meets with his boss bill lucas director of nasa's marshall space flight center and shows him thiokol's official launch recommendation malloy explains that while the thiokol engineers had initially expressed reservations about how the o-rings might perform in the cold weather they ultimately all agreed to go forward so despite the low temperatures nasa proceeds with its pre-launch protocol staying on track for a morning liftoff and just after 8 a.m challenger commander dick scobie is joined by the six other astronauts for the elevator ride 20 stories up to the entrance of the orbiter as the elevator begins to ascend scobie grins with anticipation when he woke up this morning and saw the weather report he wondered whether the launch would be postponed he wasn't happy at the thought of having to spend more time sitting and waiting in the astronauts pre-launch quarantine but now it appears today's launch is actually going to happen and he's excited to get the show on the road scobie squinted in the bright sunshine as he exits the elevator with his crew right behind him he's greeted by johnny corlew nasa's quality insurance inspector scobie gives corlew a big smile and notes that the skies are crystal clear a beautiful day to fly corlew seems surprised by this comment and remarks on the unusually cold temperature but scobie shrugs him off determined not to let anything dampen his optimism he's even bought a little gift for corlew handing him a bolt with a joke referencing the faulty bolt that caused the cancellation of yesterday's launch corlew laughs and shakes his head then the crew helps scobie and the other astronauts into their flight harnesses before leading them to the orbiter's entrance hatch once strapped into their seats inside the orbiter scobie takes a moment to check on the other astronauts as a veteran test pilot and astronaut he's well accustomed to the jitters that creep in just before a flight and he's especially mindful of krista mccollough who's only been with nasa for a few months and will be making her first launch ever today scobie looks over his shoulder at her and asks how she's doing mccollough replies that she's ready to launch but as scobie looks into her eyes more deeply he can see she's scared he tries to reassure her that everyone feels nervous before launch and that before she knows it she'll be up there in zero gravity having the time of her life while the seven astronauts inside the challenger's orbiter move through their pre-launch processes the temperatures outside remain below freezing at the last minute nasa officials decide to push the launch back 30 minutes based on the weather forecast they hope that by then the temperature will rise above freezing and the tower will have thawed out in the meantime nasa's space shuttle program manager arnold aldrich convenes a meeting of more than two dozen senior managers from nasa and their various contractors to discuss the temperature conditions they already have a green light from thiokol maker of the solid rocket boosters and in this newest meeting nasa's own engineers unanimously vote to move forward as soon as the temperature reaches 32 degrees fahrenheit but there are dissenting voices from rockwell the contractor responsible for manufacturing challenger's orbiter the rockwell engineers tell aldrich it's not safe to launch and because these temperature conditions are unprecedented they cannot be sure how the orbiter will perform but aldrich brushes rockwell's concerns aside if his own engineers are voting to move forward then that's good enough for him so after a few more minor delays the countdown resumes with a new launch time set for 11 38 a.m eastern time as the astronauts sit and wait strapped inside challenger's crew cabin more than 500 observers file into nearby bleachers to watch the launch they're dressed in hats and gloves shivering in the cold but the weather doesn't dampen their excitement the crowd includes members of the astronauts extended families as well as dozens of school children there to see krista mccullough become the first teacher in space and around the country more than two million other children are also gathered around tvs in their classrooms watching a live feed provided by nasa including at concord high school in new hampshire mccullough's own students packed into an auditorium filled with banners and noisemakers to celebrate the historic launch but at morton diakal headquarters in utah the mood is far from safe celebratory around 11 30 a.m just minutes away from launch diakal engineer roger bogele is sitting in his office filled with dread he can see his fellow engineers are beginning to gather in the conference room down the hall to watch the launch but he can't bear to join them over the past year bogele has devoted countless hours to raising the alarm about the o-ring issue just 12 hours ago he pleaded with leaders at nasa and diakal to postpone the launch presenting extensive data and even photos of charred o-rings but it wasn't enough as the conference room tv blairs the final countdown reaching the two-minute mark bogele becomes too nervous to sit still he stands up from his desk and begins pacing up and down the hallway outside his office but as he passes the conference room he sees his fellow engineer bob ebeling poke his head out hey roger they're about to launch why don't you come in and join us i can't do that bob i don't have the stomach to walk just let me know when it's over come on buddy we're all in this together now and i'm just as nervous as you are i need you in here bogele can see in his colleague's eyes that his words are sincere he sighs and agrees to join ebeling but when he enters the conference room he sees all the chairs are already occupied uh you know there's nowhere to sit here i'll just go back to my desk no no no there's room for you come sit with me and my daughter in front ebeling leads bogele to the front of the room where he takes a seat on the floor in front of ebeling's legs seated next ebeling is his daughter also an employee at diacol bogele looks up at the large projection tv at the front of the room showing the launch and as the countdown reaches the final 10 seconds he reaches up and clasps hands with ebeling on screen the engines ignite and the challenger slowly begins to ascend from the launch pad in a plume of white smoke and liftoff liftoff and it has cleared the tower liftoff hearing the challenger's engines roar bogele breathes a sigh of relief we just dodged a bullet bomb boosters made it through liftoff well we're not done quite yet now seven seconds into the flight bogele watches challenger begin to turn over the ocean as it angles toward orbit as the seconds tick by bogele feels himself relaxed but then about a minute after launch a flash of bright light envelops the shuttle from a cloud of smoke and flame two white contrails emerge flying in different directions what what what happened i don't know i don't know i think those contrails are the boosters they they separate it but where's the orbiter bogele watches dumbstruck as his worst fears have just been realized the space shuttle challenger has exploded bogele releases ebeling's hand gets up to the top of the ship and takes off off the floor and walks out of the room he makes his way back toward his office wiping tears from his eyes it's too early to say what exactly caused this disaster but he feels certain that his company's boosters were involved and if he's right he is determined to tell the world that this horrible tragedy could have been prevented what if ai could recreate the voice of somebody you loved who died what if it destroyed your reputation with words you never said and what if you fell in love with something that was never human. I'm Mark Fennell, and in my brand new Audible original podcast, I'm travelling the globe to investigate the very personal ways AI is already changing our relationships, our memories, and our sense of what is real. Unreal. Listen now on Audible. What if AI could recreate the voice of somebody you loved who died? What if it destroyed your reputation with words you never said? And what if you fell in love with something that was never human? Unreal. So at 1039 a.m. Eastern Time on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disappears in an apparent explosion. At Mission Control in Houston, Texas, NASA officials and engineers sit in stunned silence. They assume the worst for all astronauts on board, so they immediately pivot to their contingency plans for the search and recovery of the remains of the shuttle, which are still tumbling down into the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, at Cape Canaveral, a voice over the loudspeaker tells the crowd of onlookers that the vehicle has exploded. The spectators grow quiet, and then many begin to cry. But on the rooftop of NASA's launch control building, some of the astronauts' immediate family members continue to hope for the best. Among them are Commander Dick Scobie's wife, June, along with her adult son and daughter. Krista McAuliffe's husband, Steve, looks to June for answers, but she knows as little as anyone else. Staring out at the trails of white smoke over the ocean, June knows it doesn't look good. But she also knows that the astronauts are trained for emergencies just like this. If the orbiter somehow survived the explosion, she believes her husband can land it. Soon, the families are loaded onto a bus and taken to a small dormitory building where the astronauts are housed before each mission. And in the building's modest lobby, June huddles with a few dozen of the astronauts' spouses, children, and parents, holding each other tightly as some of the children begin to cry. The building is nearly empty of any NASA employees. But soon, several astronauts who weren't on the flight begin streaming in to provide comfort. They rush to turn off the TVs, which are now wall-to-wall with coverage of the disaster. And they offer families food, drink, and even sedatives. June declines their offers, telling them she just wants to know what happened. And finally, an hour after the explosion, NASA's Director of Flight Operations, George Abbey, walks solemnly through the building's glass doors. He asks the adults to accompany him into a conference room, and suggests that the children should stay in the lobby where the other astronauts can look after them. Abbey leads the group into a cramped conference room and then closes the door. All right, everyone, we don't know all the details, but obviously there's been an explosion. June Scobie presses him for more. We know that. We all saw it happen. What about the orbiter? Did they bring it down safely? I don't believe there's any hope for the crew. But how do you know? Did you recover the orbiter? Did you open it up? Look inside. No, it will be some time before it's recovered. But look, June, no one could survive that, not even Dick. I'm so sorry. So who's going to tell the children out there that their parents are coming home? I think it would be best if you all handled that. June walks in a daze back to the lobby, where the astronauts' spouses begin breaking the news to their children. She sees the teenage daughter of Challenger pilot Mike Smith begin to hyperventilate as a NASA crew member helps the girl breathe into a paper bag. But June doesn't linger. Instead, she finds herself wandering toward her husband's room down the hall. There inside, June sees her husband's clothing still hanging in the closet. She wraps her arms around some of his shirts, squeezing them tightly, desperate to feel close to him somehow. And on the desk, she finds Dick's brown leather briefcase. Opening it, she says, He thumbs through the maps, flight manuals, and NASA pins he had collected as souvenirs from the mission. And at the bottom of the case, she finds a Valentine's Day card addressed to her. He must have planned to give it to her when he returned home. Overcome with emotion, she sits on the bed, puts her head in her hands, and finally allows herself to cry. As the families of the astronauts begin to mourn their losses, the NASA engineers inside Houston Mission Control, prepare for the inevitable post-disaster investigation. Within only minutes of the explosion, they are told to lock their monitors in place to preserve data. Then the office doors are locked, and they are warned not to leave the room for any reason, even to use the bathroom. They are also instructed not to make any outgoing phone calls, and forbidden from communicating with anyone, especially the press, about what has happened. President Ronald Reagan's State of the Union address had been scheduled for that night, but now the White House has decided not to make any phone calls. The White House announces that the speech will be rescheduled for the following week. And as word of the tragedy spreads around the country, people flock to their TVs, desperate for any insight. But NASA stays tight-lipped, refusing to talk to the press, and even seizing photos of the launch taken by reporters. News anchors like Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings are only left to speculate about the cause of the disaster on air as they roll footage of the explosion in a continuous loop. Finally, around 4.30 p.m., nearly 5 p.m., 5 hours after the launch, NASA calls a press conference at Cape Canaveral. By this time, the number of reporters on site has grown to more than 300, forcing NASA to hold the event outdoors. Jesse Moore, the head of the agency's shuttle program, reads a brief statement, then takes questions. But his answers come off as evasive. Moore refuses to speculate on the causes of the explosion, insisting that the unusually cold weather that morning did not play a role in the disaster, and that the previous delays created a chance for the explosion to happen. He assures the public that, to his knowledge, everyone involved was unanimous in their insistence that the Challenger was ready to fly. But in Utah, at Morton Thiokol Headquarters, engineer Roger Beaujolais knows better. And as he watches the press conference from his office, he grows increasingly suspicious about what he's hearing from NASA. It's even beginning to smell like a cover-up. The following morning, when Beaujolais returns to work, he's surprised to see that it's back-to-business, as usual. All around him, technicians continue their work as if nothing had happened. Beaujolais figures he might as well follow suit, and distract himself from his grief. So he heads to his office and begins gathering folders full of data on the booster's O-rings, the component he suspects caused the explosion. But as he opens the files on his desk, there's a knock on the door. It's a company secretary delivering a memo from management. The letter instructs Thiokol engineers to hand over any relevant documentation they have about the explosion. And as he looks at the documents, he notices that they're not the same as he'd like them to be. Beaujolais nods at the secretary, and tells her he'll deliver the documents by the end of the day. But he has no intention of following through on that promise. Already suspicious of NASA, Beaujolais now begins to worry that his own company is preparing a cover-up of their own. So Beaujolais begins going through his files, and pulling anything related to the launch he can find. Soon, he has a small pile of documents on his desk. And in the stack are slides from his presentation to NASA that he's been working on for years. The night before the launch. Notebooks full of data on the booster's performance over time, and a series of memos he had written to his bosses, warning of the dangers posed by faulty O-rings. There's even one memo he sent to Thiokol's head of engineering six months ago, warning about a possible loss of human life. As he looks at the pile, Beaujolais knows it would be suspicious not to turn anything in. So he takes a moment to consider what's the least valuable. He settles on the presentation slides, and puts those into. He puts the rest of the papers in his desk drawer, and locks it. Then, before he heads upstairs to hand in the manila folder, he jiggles the drawer, making sure it's locked tight. Because he knows what's inside could be important in the coming months, and that there are powerful people who would rather it never see the light of day. From Audible Originals, this is episode three of the Challenger Disaster from American Scandal. In our next episode, an independent commission looks into the causes of the tragedy, and when executives at NASA and Thiokol try to conceal what really happened, engineers step forward to blow the whistle. New seasons of American Scandal early, and ad-free, right now. Join Audible in the Audible app, or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details. And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations. are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced. by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. This episode is written and researched by Corey Metcalf. Edited by Emma Cortland. Senior producer, Andy Beckerman. Managing producer, Emily Burke. Fact-checking by Alyssa Jung Perry. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Original music by Thrum. Sound design by Gabriel Gould. Executive producer for Airship is William Simpson. Executive producer for Audible is Jenny Lauer-Beckman. Head of creative development at Audible, Kate Navin. Head of Audible Originals, North America, Marshall Louis. Chief content officer, Rachel Guillotte. Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC. Sound recording copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC.