Forty years of what if

2026-09-29 · 21 min · 8 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ discusses Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
→ discusses History website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: History
→ discusses Documentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Documentary
→ hosted by NPR company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: NPR

Entities found in this episode

concepts 4

mentioned Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
mentioned Documentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Documentary
discusses Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
discusses Documentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Documentary

companys 2

mentioned NPR company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: NPR
hosted by NPR company

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evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: NPR

websites 2

mentioned History website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: History
discusses History website

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: History

Episode description as stored

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. All seven astronauts onboard died. Brian Russell, an engineer who worked on the shuttle, had spent months warning NASA that freezing temperatures could cause a critical seal to fail. In this episode, Brian Russell takes us to the intense meeting where NASA had to decide whether to launch and the 40-year weight of a tragedy he tried to prevent. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy