jan 28, 1986 - Challenger Disaster

Description:

73 seconds after liftoff, the space shuttle Challenger suffered a catastrophic failure which cause the shuttle to explode killing all 7 astronauts aboard. Before the launch, some engineers and contractors worried about the seals integrity in the cold weather including Allan McDonald who objected to his superiors and refused to sign off on the required launch recommendation, but despite McDonald's protests, including a project manager quoted as saying "My God . . . when do you want me to launch, next April? We can't be making new launch criteria the day before launch." the launch went ahead. The disaster sparked investigations, and uncovered a cultural problem at NASA precipitating an evaluation of work practices to improve communication between departments and to launch decision teams.