But that weekend, the inquiry took an abrupt turn. On Sunday morning, the New York Times carried a shocking front-page splash: “NASA Had Warning of a Disaster Risk Posed by Booster.” The story, based on internal memos leaked to the paper by a budget analyst at the space agency’s headquarters, revealed the long history of damage to the seals stretching back to 1981, and quoted from internal documents citing the risks of O-ring failure: “loss of vehicle, mission and crew due to metal erosion, burn-through and probable case burst resulting in fire and deflagration.”
