William R. Lucas, who led the development of rockets for NASA and faced significant scrutiny after the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986, has died at the age of 102. Despite his strong leadership at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Lucas bore much of the blame for the tragedy that resulted in the deaths of all seven astronauts aboard Challenger. The explosion was attributed to a failure of an O-ring on a booster rocket, a decision to launch during cold weather contrasting with engineering advice to delay.
Investigators determined that the accident was caused by the failure of a rubber seal, known as an O-ring, on one of two booster rockets, which were attached to the shuttle like a jetpack.
The sickening explosion was witnessed by children in classrooms across the country because the crew included Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher who was to be the first American civilian in space.
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