A few days prior to launch NASA was ratting door handles off
one of the other shuttles to ensure the launch was on time.
When I heard this I said out loud, "their going to have an accident".
At the time I knew nothing about Morton Thiokol's concerns
with cold o-rings.
The political agenda from both the White House and NASA put
undue pressure on the engineers who had to get the shuttle to
fly on time. The Morton Thiokol engineers failed to present
their data appropriately to NASA. No one at NASA would have
let Challenger launch if the had been shown all the temperature
data presented on a chart.
The case should be required study in every engineering course.
When I listened to Ronald Reagan's speech I was amazed that he
could read it without breaking down.
