{"id":2682,"date":"2023-06-07T07:39:44","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T11:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2023-06-07T07:39:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T11:39:44","slug":"speak-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/07\/speak-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Speak Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
\u00a0
Bob Ebeling was tormented by guilt for 30 years.
\u00a0
Ebeling was an engineer for Morton Thiokol, the contractor that built the solid rocket boosters for NASA\u2019s space shuttles.
\u00a0
On the night of January 27, 1986, Ebeling contacted Allan McDonald, Morton Thiokol\u2019s senior leader at Cape Canaveral, where the shuttle Challenger <\/em>was scheduled for launch the next morning.\u00a0 He was convinced the launch should be scrubbed.
\u00a0
It was going to be 18 degrees overnight \u2013 exceedingly cold for Florida, even in the dead of winter.\u00a0 Ebeling thought the chill might damage the rubber O-rings that prevented the escape of hot gasses from the boosters.
\u00a0
Morton Thiokol had never tested for launch conditions below 53 degrees.\u00a0 It seemed insane to give Challenger <\/em>the green light.
\u00a0
NASA\u2019s leaders, unfortunately, had come down with a serious case of \u201cGo Fever.\u201d\u00a0 The flight had already been delayed on multiple occasions.\u00a0 The public was paying close attention, especially since schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe was one of the astronauts.
\u00a0
NASA insisted on the launch.\u00a0 McDonald was stunned. \u201cThis was the first time that NASA personnel ever challenged a recommendation that was made that said it was unsafe <\/em>to fly.\u00a0 For some strange reason, we found ourselves being challenged to prove quantitatively that it would definitely fail, and we couldn\u2019t do that.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
When asked to sign off on the decision to launch, McDonald refused.\u00a0 His boss signed instead.
\u00a0
Bob Ebeling trudged home that night, feeling devastated.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s going to blow up,\u201d he said to his wife Darlene.
\u00a0
Seventy-three seconds into the launch the following morning, the O-rings failed.\u00a0 Challenger <\/em>and its seven astronauts were lost. \u00a0Sitting in a crowded conference room, watching the launch on a large screen, Ebeling at first trembled and then wailed with rage and sorrow.\u00a0
\u00a0
He spent the next three decades haunted by the thought that he could have done more.\u00a0 He should <\/em>have done more.
\u00a0
In a January 2016 interview that marked the 30th<\/sup> anniversary of the disaster, he lamented to NPR reporter Howard Berkes:\u00a0 “That was one of the mistakes God made.\u00a0 He shouldn’t have picked me for that job. But next time I talk to him, I’m gonna ask him, ‘Why me? You picked a loser.’ “
\u00a0
What Ebeling never saw coming was the avalanche of letters that poured forth from NPR listeners who had heard the interview.
\u00a0
One of them was written by Jim Sides, an engineer from Jacksonville, NC.\u00a0 “When I heard he carried a burden of guilt for 30 years, it broke my heart.\u00a0 And I just sat there in the car in the parking lot and cried.”
\u00a0
In his letter Sides pointed out that the Challenger <\/em>disaster had become a celebrated case study in ethical decision-making for engineers everywhere.\u00a0 \u201cYou and your colleagues did all that you could do,\u201d he assured Ebeling.
\u00a0
Sides also insisted that Ebeling was wrong about God.\u00a0 “God didn’t pick a loser,” he says. “He picked Bob Ebeling.”
\u00a0
The greatest surprise was a note that came from NASA itself \u2013 the first time he had ever heard from the space agency.\u00a0 NASA\u2019s statement declared that the Challenger <\/em>crew members were honored by the reminder to \u201clisten to those like Mr. Ebeling who have the courage to speak up so that our astronauts can safely carry out their missions.\u201d
\u00a0
Overwhelmed by the graciousness of such letters, Bob Ebeling told his family he was finally beginning to experience peace of mind.\u00a0 A few days later he lapsed into a coma.\u00a0 A few weeks after that he left this world at age 89.
\u00a0
In the case of Challenger, <\/em>the very people who were supposed to know what was going on did in fact know what was going on, and accurately predicted what would happen next.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to be the dissenting voice, however, when a leader gets Go Fever.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to take a stand.\u00a0 Politics, ego needs, and the pressure to just go along with the consensus<\/em> can feel crushing.
\u00a0
Ebeling explained in his NPR interview that it was his engineering background that prompted him to speak up.\u00a0 \u201cSomebody should tell the truth,\u201d he said.
\u00a0
But you don\u2019t have to be an engineer to tell the truth.\u00a0
\u00a0
Wherever you are \u2013 at work, at home, in your community, at a town hall meeting \u2013 the need of the hour is courage.\u00a0
\u00a0
Do your best thinking.\u00a0 Remember to be humble.\u00a0 Choose to speak up \u2013 even if you\u2019re not sure how others might respond.\u00a0
\u00a0
Let your voice be heard.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0Bob Ebeling was tormented by guilt for 30 years.\u00a0Ebeling was an engineer for Morton Thiokol, the contractor that built the solid rocket boosters for NASA\u2019s space shuttles.\u00a0On the night of January 27, 1986, Ebeling contacted Allan McDonald, Morton Thiokol\u2019s senior leader at Cape Canaveral, where the shuttle Challenger was scheduled for launch… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2684,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions\/2684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}