NASA Ignored a Critical Warning Before the 1986 Challenger Explosion

On the morning of January 28, 1986, the sky over Cape Canaveral was unusually cold. Frost clung to metal surfaces. Engineers noticed ice on the launch pad. Millions of people watched live as the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off—and just 73 seconds later, disintegrated into a fireball. In the hours that followed, the question most people asked was simple: What went wrong? The more disturbing question emerged later. Some people already knew something might. A Warning That Didn’t Fit the Schedule The night before the launch, engineers from Morton Thiokol, the company responsible for the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters, joined a tense conference call with NASA officials. Their concern focused on a small but vital component: rubber O-rings designed to…