The Space Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Booster problem began with the faulty design of its joint and increased as both NASA and contractor management first failed to recognize it as a problem, then failed to fix it and finally treated it as an acceptable flight risk.”
—An Accident Rooted in HistoryNASA)

28 January, 1986. My senior year at Denis J. O’Connell High School, in Arlington, Va. Principal Burch came on the loudspeaker to announce that the shuttle had blown up “on the pad”, which I knew wasn’t true, because I was watching the TV in the library.