Wednesday, June 4, 1986
by Stuart Diamond
Morton Thiokol Inc., the manufacturer of the booster rockets identified as the cause of the space shuttle Challenger disaster, announced major management changes in its space division yesterday.
Three senior officials are to leave their jobs and two engineers will be reinstated, the company said. The engineers had told the president's commission investigating the shuttle disaster that there had been significant problems with the rockets. After their testimony, they were transferred, a move they said was punishment.
In a statement. U. Edwin Garrison, president of Thiokol's aerospace group, said the changes were needed to "move forward with the redesign, testing and qualification of the shuttle's solid rocket motors."
Thiokol's chief spokesman, Thomas S. Russell, said there was no pressure from outside sources to make the personnel changes. But he added that they were approved by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as required by the company's contract with the agency.
One of the affected Thiokol managers, Joseph C Kilminster, signed an authorization to launch the Challenger on Jan 28, overruling his staff engineers who strongly urged against launching because of cold weather.
Cold temperatures are now believed to be the likely cause of the failure of critical rocket seals, allowing flames to shoot out and trigger the disaster that destroyed the craft and killed all seven astronauts.
Mr. Russell said, "Mr. Kilminster will be reassigned at a later date. I don't know what his new position will be." Mr. Kilminster was a senior executive in the company's Wasach division in Brigham City, Utah.
Clavia G. Wiggins, vice president and assistant general manager of the division, will also be reassigned, the company said.
Jerald E. Mason, senior vice president of the Wasach operations, is to take early retirement. "This action is taken," he said in the company statement "in accepting my responsibility as senior manager at Wasach." The company accepted his resignation, Mr. Russell said.
Reinstated were Allan J. McDonald, a senior engineer and Roger M. Boisjoly, a staff engineer who testified before the President's Commission that there were serious problems with the rocket seals and that they unsuccessfully urged a postponement of the launching Jan. 28.
Mr. McDonald later told the commission that his administrative position was taken away as a result of his testimony. His statements were called "shocking" by William P. Rogers, the chairman of the commission, who added that the engineers were "punished for being right."
Thiokol yesterday said Mr. McDonald will now lead a company group working to improve the booster rockets. The company also said Carver G. Kennedy, its vice president of space services at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will move to Utah to become its vice president of the booster rocket program.
The affected managers could not immediately be reached. Mr. Russell declined several times to provide further details about the changes, although he did say, "It certainly is unusual." He would not say if the changes were related to the Challenger accident.