Morton-Thiokol

MORTON-THIOKOL is best known for its role in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. In 1973, Thiokol Chemical Corporation (later the company became Morton Thiokol, Inc.) was awarded an $800 million contract to manufacture solid rocket boosters for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [Page 548]space shuttle program. The faulty O-ring seals developed by Thiokol ultimately failed in the right side solid rocket booster and caused the explosion of the spacecraft.

Morton-Thiokol tests a redesign of the solid rocket booster after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

A subsequent investigation by the President's Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, 1986, (the Rogers Commission), concluded that the failure of the O-rings and field joint was the primary cause of the ...