Roger Boisjoly dies at 73; engineer tried to halt Challenger launch

[no_hypocrisy]

21. Here's what I could find online. I remember the discussion well in 1986 when it happened. Conceded

there was strong suspicion but no evidence found to be conclusive.

Twenty-five years ago, millions of television viewers were horrified to witness the live broadcast of the space shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds into flight, ending the lives of the seven astronauts on board. And they were equally horrified to learn in the aftermath of the disaster that the faulty design had been chosen by NASA to satisfy powerful politicians who had demanded the mission be launched, even under unsafe conditions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/myths-about-challenger-shuttle-disaster/

Ronald Reagan was supposed to give his State of the Union address the night of launch. After the crash a number of rumors surfaced that the Whitehouse pressured the shuttle to launch over NASA concerns because Reagan wanted to incorporate the astronauts in his speech. The rumors were taken seriously enough to be investigated by commissions into the cause of Challenger crash but no evidence of Whitehouse pressure was found.
http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Challenger#Whitehouse_Pressure.3F

Pressure also came from the White House, as President Reagan wanted to mention astronaut Christa McAuliffe as the first teacher in space in his State of the Union Address that afternoon.
http://sarahaskew.net/2011/02/06/remembering-remembering-challenger/

But presidential commissions are also created to deflect political repercussions. What they did not report was the likely pressure coming from the White House to get the shuttle into orbit so that the Teacher in Space, Christa McAuliffe, would be aloft when President Ronald Reagan gave his state of the union speech that night.
http://www.richardccook.com/2011/01/10/speech-by-richard-c-cook-to-commemorate-25th-anniversary-of-challenger-disaster/