Vandals had scrawled the words "Morton Thiokol Murderers" on a railroad overpass on the road out to the Thiokol plant.

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

They worked for Morton Thiokol (now ATK Thiokol), the Utah-based NASA contractor which produced the solid rocket motors that lifted space shuttles from their launch pads.

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

Consider the debates within Morton-Thiokol and NASA the night before the ill-fated Challenger shuttle launch in 1986.

FORBES: Jim Collins's ''How the Mighty Fall.''