- Date Of Birth: July 9, 1937
- Date Of Death: March 6, 2021
- Occupation: Engineer, aerospace consultant and author
- City: Ogden
- State: Utah
Allan James McDonald (July 9, 1937 – March 6, 2021) was an American engineer, aerospace consultant, author and the director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Project for Morton-Thiokol, a NASA subcontractor. In January 1986, he refused to sign off on a launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger which then broke apart 73 seconds into flight; all seven astronauts on board were killed. Deeply affected by the loss of the Challenger astronauts, McDonald endeavored to reveal the truth about the pressures to stay on launch schedule that led to the tragedy. He co-authored the 2009 book Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster.
McDonald was born in Cody, Wyoming, on July 9, 1937, to Eva Marie (née Gingras) and John MacDonald. His father was a grocer and deputy county tax assessor. He grew up in Billings, Montana, and graduated from Montana State University with a degree in chemical engineering. After beginning work, he obtained an M.S. in engineering administration from the University of Utah in 1967. In 1986, Montana State awarded him an honorary doctorate.
McDonald married Linda Rae Zuchetto in 1963; they had three daughters and a son. He died in Ogden, Utah, at the age of 83 on March 6, 2021, following a fall in which he sustained brain damage. – Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License from Wikipedia.
