Interesting analogy in that IMO Challenger happenned because of stupidity. I was on the program at the time, and recall driving to work at Vandenburg AFB (West Coast Space Shuttle) with the radio on listenning to the news (Coincidently, there was a TS MX test launch also happenning that morning - how'd I KNOW?, because the gate guards were are all carrying M-16s - a sure sign of something "sensitive" going on, and MX was the other game in town). Anyway, they talked of how the launch had already been delayed twice, but they were hesitating because of ice build-up on the vehicle. I immediately recalled they had stopped painting the External Tank after the first couple of (light load) launches because the weight of the paint was significant enough to jeopardize the mssion. Then thinking, what the hell are they thinking? Just delay and play it safe for crying out loud! Ice has got to weigh more than paint, and it's on everything, not just the ET! But I also knew that meeting schedule (or not falling further behind) was considered critical.

An hour or two later, I'm doing a presentation to all of Logistics management (the KSC guys were out here) regarding formalizing our logistics support plans for our first launch out of CA. The Director from KSC, who was in another room watching the launch, stepped in to advise that our planning challenge just got greater because Challenger just blew up in launch, so we had one less set of Orbitor motors to work with (previous, we had 4 orbitors, but only 3 sets of motors; now 3 and 2). After the initail shock (and thinking what a cold-blodded SOB the KSC Director was), we resumed but weren't too productive.

The O-rings, IMO, failed due to tremendous additional load, beyond design tolerance even if they were perfect. All because of stupidity/mis-placed priorities.

That KSC Director told of how he (later) had to sign-off on the "Loss, Damage or Destruction of U.S. Government Property" form for relief of liability by the contractor (the vehicle was considered "delivered" to the USG upon ignition for take-off). $4 Billion. Another result was the shut-down of the West Coast (Polar Orbit) program, after an estimated $4 Billion expenditure.

Challenger - Really bad decision > loss of life, and $8 Billion down the toilet.

Let's hope Ward doesn't demonstrate such stupidity and wreck the stats (on us)!

SGE