[JohnG45]

Challenger engineer who warned of space shuttle disaster dies aged 89 after spending the past 30-years racked with guilt over the seven crew members deaths.

He tried to warn them about the launch at those temps. He was overruled by NASA.

So why the guilt?

[Kid Shelleen]

He felt guilty about not lobbying harder to postpone the flight.

[Maine Mariner]

Perhaps because he thought he could have done more.

[vette6387]

“So why the guilt? “

Evidently he was a “man of principle!”

[frankenMonkey]

I think (and this is just my guess) is that the media always publicized it as a failure of the O-rings. ATK (the company that produced the solid rockets) never entirely recovered. They are now producing (I think) solid rocket boosters for the new manned space vehicles.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“So why the guilt?”

NASA overruled his warning. It was said at the time that NASA overruled the warning because they felt pressured to go ahead with the launch so that President Ronald Reagan could have a press conference with the astronauts that night.

[driftdiver]

I’d guess he felt guilty because he was largely the public face of one of the greatest failures in modern American history.

People died, families torn apart, careers destroyed, Americas image tarnished.

IMO the question isn’t why did he feel guilty. Its why is he the only one to publicly admit it.

[Ancesthntr]

“He tried to warn them about the launch at those temps. He was overruled by NASA.

So why the guilt?”

---

Because he was apparently a moral man who always questioned whether he could have done more. That’s what moral people DO.

I hope that he gets his forgiveness soon, and rests in peace. Condolences to his family, you had a good man there.

[Ozark Tom]

Really good engineers are conservative by inherent nature; as, consequences of poor judgement drastically affect lives.

Waiting for the consequences of the California political manipulation of the Bay Bridge project...tick-tick.

[Moonman62]

Emotions can distort thinking.