The Cassandra Curse

[0] T -minus 15 seconds.

[1] This is Hidden Brain.

[2] I'm Shankar Vedantam.

[3] On January 28, 1986, the Challenger spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

[4] One, and liftoff, liftoff of the 25th Space Shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower.

[5] Seconds after liftoff into a clear blue sky, something went wrong.

[6] It was much more than a maximum.

[7] malfunction.

[8] It was a disaster.

[9] As millions of people watched in horror, trails of smoke and debris flew off in different directions.

[10] We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.

[11] What appears to be a major catastrophe in America's space program, Challenger, only seconds after leaving the launch pad, according to NASA, has exploded in mid -air.

[12] After the explosion, NASA officials were hauled to Capitol Hill and put to questioning.

[13] Who finally made that decision to go?

[14] What was the chain?

[15] How did that link?

[16] What happened then specifically?

[17] Members of Congress asked the tough questions.

[18] How could this have happened?

[19] Who's to blame?

[20] Were they warning signs that were ignored?

[21] These are the kinds of questions we have when any catastrophe occurs, whether a spacecraft has exploded or a city has been attacked by terrorists.

[22] In all these cases, we want to know who screwed up.

[23] Your government failed you.

[24] Those entrusted with protecting you, failed you, and I failed you.

[25] We ask, who knew what, when?

[26] The State Department had received repeated warnings that the situation was getting worse.

[27] And we try to figure out how...

[28] How do we make sure that this kind of breach...

[29] That such an accident...