It would be the most hazardous mission in NASA’s history; Easterbrook’s story warned in blunt terms how years of shrinking budgets and expedient decision-making had drastically increased the risk of a catastrophic failure, one in which the lives of astronauts would be sacrificed for a national future in space that was largely illusory. “Here’s the plan,” he wrote. “Suppose one of the solid rocket boosters fails. The plan is, you die.”
