The good and bad side of 'groupthink'

1986 was an unforgettable year in the history of the United States space program. That was the time when the space shuttle Challenger broke in midair after only 73 seconds in flight resulting in the death of all seven astronauts on board. After several months of an investigation, authorities discovered the cause of the disaster was the O-ring seals in the shuttle's rocket booster.

Earlier on, space engineers foresaw what would happen. The type of O-ring seals was not appropriate for use in an extreme cold temperature at the time of the launching. They recommended that the seals be redesigned but failed to get any response from their managers who thought many tests had already been done before.