• baltakatei@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    ·
    24 days ago

    That time fundamentalist Mormons almost got Big Bird killed.

    Specifically, about how Morton Thiokol o-ring subcontractor HydraPak (originally Utah Tool & Die, later Western Precision, and now “NewEra Manufacturing” based in Cedar City, Utah), which made the o-rings of the Challenger that failed on 1986-01-28, killing the entire NASA crew, was started and run as a front operation for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) religious sect by its prophet Rulon Jeffs (father of currently imprisoned prophet Warren Jeffs) as Utah Tool & Die. For more details, read the book Prophet’s Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints by Sam Brower.

    • MyRobotShitsBolts@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      24 days ago

      Was it really them or administrators ignoring the warnings about o-rings and freezing? I mean a non-freezing o-ring would be nice.

      • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        24 days ago

        yeah, it’s scary.

        basically fundamentalist mormon means polygamist tho. like, explicitly, whereas just regular mormon it’s implicit.

        • saturn57@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          24 days ago

          I wouldn’t say it is implicit. The leadership has been trying really hard to backpedal and say they never do and have never done polygamy (except some nebulous long ago time period).

          • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            24 days ago

            watch the documentary “Keep Sweet” on netflix about Short Creek and the Jeffs. it’s bad.

            one of my grandfathers escaped that cult. we were proud of him for doing it, but it was a constant battle for him to not fall into his old culty habits.

    • 4am@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      24 days ago

      Holy shit, Warren Jeff’s father?! Dude, America has some fucked up families.

      • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        24 days ago

        don’t get me started about how the mormons controlled the us sugar industry. mostly because i don’t know specifics.