
Petition to Honor Robert Ebeling, Who Tried to Stop the Challenger Launch - OliverJones
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/honor-engineer-robert-ebeling-and-his-colleagues-warning-their-employers-and-nasa-about-challenger-crash
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OliverJones
Let's ask the US Administration to confer some kind of honor on Robert
Ebeling, the engineer at Thiokol who spoke up right before the space shuttle
Challenger the night before its ill-fated launch.

Please click the link to sign the petition.

We know Thiokol and NASA went ahead in spite of his warning, and we know how
well that worked out.

Recently it has come out that he was isolated by his company and colleagues
after he spoke up.

[http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2016/01/28/464744781/...](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2016/01/28/464744781/30-years-after-disaster-challenger-engineer-still-
blames-himself)

Why honor him? Out of respect for him, and respect for engineers and quality-
assurance people everywhere. Sometimes it stinks to be right, but part of
engineering is being right and saying so.

~~~
pdkl95
> Why honor him?

Another reason: encouraging more people to speak up when they see a problem.

~~~
bsbechtel
Agreed. It's unfortunate that's not working out so well for Snowden right now.

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irremediable
Great effort. I'm not American, but the story of Ebeling (and others at
Morton-Thiokol) is taught in engineering schools throughout the world.

I saw there was a great public reaction to the recent NPR article, with an
outpouring of sympathy for Ebeling. [http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2016/02/25/466555217/...](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2016/02/25/466555217/your-letters-helped-challenger-shuttle-engineer-
shed-30-years-of-guilt)

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afarrell
It is good to see a petition that is actually within the power of the
executive branch rather than being a legislative power.

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rootbear
My father was working at NASA when Challenger was lost, and I work there now.
I'm happy to sign this petition.

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xivzgrev
That's heart breaking he spent so long without hearing confirmation from those
above. I'm happy in the end he got the closure he needed.

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pluckytree
I don’t think we need this petition. The current and last administration have
always honored and protected whistleblowers. It’s not like they would take
their passports and run them out of the country or anything.

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JohnDeHope
This was a no brainer. Only 32 signatures? We engineers can do better!

