It wasn't long after the Challenger explosion that word of a pre-launch argument leaked out.

NPR: Challenger: Reporting a Disaster's Cold, Hard Facts

The mind-boggling expense, the riskiness and the fragility of our existing space launch capabilies were hammered home to all of us in the aftermath of the Challenger explosion.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The National Aerospace Plane

Some residents spoke to Forbes at the time, describing the accident as resembling the infamous Challenger explosion, and adding that Blue Origin remains something of a mystery even locally.

FORBES: Billionaire Space Race: 2012 Will Be The Year Private Space Transport Takes Off

In 1988, in the first space mission since the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in January 1986, the shuttle Discovery was launched.

CNN: Monday,

Carrying the aerospace analogy, Simmons says the investigation into this disaster will be akin to that following the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

FORBES: BP Oil Spill Investigation Will Focus On Blowout Preventers

Bob Graham, a Democrat, and former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William Reilly, who served under a Republican, are the picks to lead the panel, which could be patterned after past commissions that have investigated incidents such as the 1986 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the people said.

WSJ: BP Tries to Shift Blame for Spill to Transocean