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Old 07-10-2002, 11:28 AM   #22
MaggieL
in the Hour of Scampering
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Jeffersonville PA (15 mi NW of Philadelphia)
Posts: 4,060
Re: Re: waitaminit

Quote:
Originally posted by tw

Christie McAullife told her mother not to worry because Challenger was launching that next morning no matter what. Her mother wishes she had asked what Christie meant by that statement.
I would think she meant that her mother shouldn't worry because they were going to launch whether she worried or not.
Quote:

There is a long list of questions...
Yes, every conspiracy theorist comes equipped with a long list of questions, it's <i>de riegur</i>.
Quote:

...to this day remains part of the question - why was Challenger launched when disaster was immenent?
Yes, that's pretty amazing. Everybody knew that disaster was imminent.

Actually, there's very little question as to why the launch was approved, and if you'd read the source documents, (instead of Popular Mechanics or Tin-Foil Hat Quarterly or whatever you're using) you'd be much less mystified. The management bullied their technical people into silence because they were tunnel-vision focused on their goal: a successful launch.

This is a very common phenomenon and should not be a big-ass mystery to anyone. Pilots die every day because of it; we call it "get-homeitis"....discounting evidence of danger under condition of uncetainty in service of achieving a goal. Your example of an airplane flying into "rising cumulus clouds" (did you mean a thunderstorm?) is exactly that. Since the decision maker is onboard, why not call that suicide?

That's at least as sensational.
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