In that case, the decision to launch was taken not by the astronauts risking their lives, but by NASA management, against the recommendation of Morton Thiokol's engineers. This was not simply an
unfortunate "accident", but an entirely preventable gamble.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Commission_Report#Flawe...
> Loss itself drives innovation and resolve
True, but did NASA in 1986 really need to learn this lesson?
This isn't (just) rocket science, it's the fundamentals of risk liability, legality and process that should be well established in a (quasi-military) agency such as this.
