Challenger Tragedy and Asbestos: My April 20, 2024 Presentation at the P.A.T. Colorado Regional Conference

I presented yesterday at the P.A.T. (a history fraternity) Colorado Regional Conference held in Colorado Springs, using my Challenger thesis as the centerpiece of the discussion. My topic was researching whether the January 28, 1986 Challenger tragedy was caused by an asbestos substitute that failed. For those of you who have not yet read that thesis, my blog is at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10618. That blog includes links to the long scholarly thesis (75 pages plus endnotes) and a shortened 10 page summary. I hope that those who read it find the material both interesting and thought provoking.

The presentation audience included a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, and professors. I very much enjoyed my time at the podium.

Given all the messed up memes on the Internet about whether the Challenger tragedy was caused by an asbestos substitute (in the putty protecting the O-rings), this topic is one of my favorite.

The answer, of course, is that the change over from the Fuller-O’Brien putty to the Randolph putty because Fuller-O’Brien wanted to eliminate its asbestos containing products may well have been a contributing factor to the O-rings not sealing prior to the 5800 F gas destroying them. That being said, both putties contained asbestos fibers, albeit the replacement putty included longer and thicker asbestos fibers; generally, that means weaker fibers. Because this was only observational and not measured by the chemist who examined the replacement putty at the time, we will never know whether the failure was caused by a non-asbestos component or the asbestos component.

A new Challenger book is hitting the shelves in May 2024 authored by Adam Higginbotham. I talked with Andy about a couple of topics and cannot wait to see his detailed research.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, either by leaving a comment or sending me an email to TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thanks. Marty