"There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin."
The media back then was relentless against the shuttle, every launch attempt aborted (even for weather!), the scumbag MSM would use it against NASA.
That may have caused pressure.
I learned to never trust the media back then because of how they handled shuttle news.
The media tried to tie the forced launch on Reagan's SOTU speach. They (MSM) said he forced NASA to launch so he mention Christa Macoluff (sp?) in his SOTU.
The pressure and the decision to launch were made by the head of NASA, who held a Doctorate in Education.
He was completely incompetent in the technical fields, but had the power to fire anyone who disagreed with him.
He also threatened to exercise the power to fire.
The Engineers who were competent to decide that the temperature was lower than what was safe for a launch were overruled by the incompetent head of NASA.
It was just like you deciding that you could run your car without oil. You could decide that if you wanted, but you would get the result of that decision.
He was incompetent, had the power, exercised the power, and got the predictable result. It is not a "Myth".
You're right about this. I remember very clearly watching the news on the night PRIOR to the launch. The news-head (I don't recall who) intoned solemnly, "NASA again delayed the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger today, raising questions about whether NASA can ever launch a Shuttle on-time."
And within minutes of the disaster the MSM, with absolutly no evidence, were spewing the line that NASA only launched that morning because of pressure from the Reagan White House since the State of the Union address was scheduled for that evening.