Howard Berkus

The time has come to tax the richest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations.

The booster rocket engineers from NASA contractor Morton Thiokol argued for hours the night before the launch that the freezing temperatures could doom the spacecraft.

Former Thiokol engineer Brian Russell remembers NASA officials wanting proof of a potential rocket failure.

It's impossible to prove that it's unsafe.

What we were saying was we're increasing the risk significantly.

But NASA officials were not convinced.

Alan McDonald was Thiokol's representative at the Kennedy Space Center and was expected to sign a launch approval document.

I refused to sign it.

I just thought we were taking risks we shouldn't be taking.

An investigation by a presidential commission concluded the Challenger launch decision was flawed.

For NPR News, I'm Howard Berkus.