I\'ve been doing lots of reading on the Challenger and Columbia disasters. In both cases, engineers raised concerns with NASA Management, but the management either ignored them or played down their fears... Atlantis could have been launched to save Columbia, because Columbia had 30 days worth of consumables on board - and Atlantis was scheduled for a launch in 25 days, giving 5 days overlap for a rescue mission. But they decided not to look any further into the foam strike problem, not to inspect the shuttle\'s wing for damage after they saw the foam strike. They knew about it, but said that even if something was wrong, there was 'nothing they could do' (which was false). The same applies for Challenger. The cold weather prompted engineers to ask management to postpone the launch, but they refused. The O-rings were only rated to 40 degrees - not the 18 degrees that the launch was at. I could go on, but...