The Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters were mainly built in Utah, and many people assert that this choice of location was due to political patronage. The fact that these boosters were built inland, far from barge-capable waterways and distant from the launch site, meant that, rather than being completed as a single large piece at the factory, it arrived at the Kennedy Space Center as four pieces, which were then joined together with the O-rings in question. This made them vulnerable to a blowout of the kind experienced with Challenger; solid rocket boosters made in a single piece are generally much less vulnerable to this kind of failure.