One of the coldest days in Florida history. You would have thought they would have scrubbed the mission because cold weather in FL does not last very long. Very sad.
God - I am amazed that the shuttles have been around that long.
At that time, the shuttle mission had already been scrubbed several times for various reasons and NASA was under intense political pressure to ‘GO’ that morning. Hence, they pushed the button against their better judgment.
For a great account of that day, read “Riding Rockets” by former autronaut Mike Mullane. The Challenger 7 were victims of haste, arrogance and gross incompetence on the part of NASA. They knew, from prior launches, that there were problems with the booster O-Rings in cold weather, and chose to go ahead anyway.