DIVAD and Ron Reagan's efforts to make the wasteful,
Space Shuttle program profitable went over w/ a bang.

On national TV, the American people got to see
the first civilian spaceperson and 6 astronauts die.

NASA officials refused to heed warnings that rubber O-ring seals
on the Morton Thiokal rockets might not work in the cold air.

The 24th mission, it had been delayed by bad weather for 3 days.
The shuttle program had been ridiculed by the media,
for it's poor launch record.

Reagan was scheduled to give the State of the Union address that night.
NASA wanted the shuttle up. Quick! 

They launched at 9:38 A.M.
Sure enough, 74 seconds later, the O-rings, failed and the shuttle blew up.
The last words of the Commander were "Roger, go to full power".
Then an awesome, terrible explosion tore the Challenger apart.

All paid the ultimate price for the Biggs-Reagan relationship.
McAuliffe's students got to watch their teacher die on TV,
then be mobbed by a swarm of cameramen sent to get every tear.

NASA claimed they had no clue as to why the shuttle exploded,
even going so far as to discount cold weather as the cause.

Later they refused to allow cameras to film the bodies,
when they were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.
They didn't want people to know that the astronauts survived until
they hit the water and could have been saved by an escape pod.

True to form Reagan went to the memorial service (he never missed
a chance to be on national TV) and gave a tear-jerker of a speech.
He forgot to mention that we couldn't afford an escape pod
because of people who waste $$$ on junk like the Sgt. York.