What was the fatal flaw that caused the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster?
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Contrary to popular belief, in the case of Challenger, there was no fatal flaw of any kind at play in that accident (in contrast to what happened to Columbia later). Challenger was destroyed because it was used outside of the recommended temperature range given by the manufacturer. So the spacecraft was not able to function as it would in the recommended temperature range. In addition, the modifications made to the space shuttle system after the accident did not eliminate the same issue, they simply extended the temperature range in which it was safe to launch (this is, there was still some temperature where it would be unsafe to launch even after those modifications were made).
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