Remembering Challenger

I've always had memories of watching the Challenger disaster unfold on television. Whether it was live or not, I do not know -- it was a big deal for those of us in Southern California, with the aerospace industry being huge at the time, so I remember TV sets being carted into the classrooms so that we could watch the launch of the first teacher into space. I also remember a memorial ceremony a few days later, as the entire school gave 73 seconds worth of silence (which was a really long time as an 11 year old).
In honor of what happened 20 years ago, MSNBC has published 7 myths about the Challenger accident.
The realities:
1. Few people actually saw the Challenger tragedy unfold live on television.

2. The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word.

3. The flight, and the astronauts- lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch.

4. The design of the booster, while possessing flaws subject to improvement, was neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference.

5. Replacement of the original asbestos-bearing putty in the booster seals was unrelated to the failure.

6. There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin.

7. Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management -" the disaster should have been avoidable.