Don't forget the boosters were provided by a third party and the engineers actually responsible for designing them said 'don't go'. NASA decided to go and whether the decision was made by former engineers is irrelevant. They had nothing to do with the booster rockets design or testing themselves, they were acting as management.
Just did a bit of quick research while at lunch and I stand corrected regarding my ability to prove NASA management were comprised of engineers. I cannot prove this using my current source but I'd say it's a strong possibility managment had engineering backgrounds (supported to an extent in the quote below.) Hopefully NASA wouldn't award such positions to lunch counter ladies.
Regardless, you might be interested in this:
"The Challenger disaster has several issues which are relevant to engineers. These issues raise many questions which may not have any definite answers, but can serve to heighten the awareness of engineers when faced with a similar situation. One of the most important issues deals with engineers who are placed in management positions. It is important that these managers not ignore their own engineering experience, or the expertise of their subordinate engineers. Often a manager, even if she has engineering experience, is not as up to date on current engineering practices as are the actual practicing engineers. She should keep this in mind when making any sort of decision that involves an understanding of technical matters. Another issue is the fact that managers encouraged launching due to the fact that there was insufficient low temperature data. Since there was not enough data available to make an informed decision, this was not, in their opinion, grounds for stopping a launch. This was a reversal in the thinking that went on in the early years of the space program, which discouraged launching until all the facts were known about a particular problem. This same reasoning can be traced back to an earlier phase in the shuttle program, when upper-level NASA management was alerted to problems in the booster design, yet did not halt the program until the problem was solved. To better understand the responsibility of the engineer, some key elements of the professional responsibilities of an engineer should be examined. This will be done from two perspectives: the implicit social contract between engineers and society, and the guidance of the codes of ethics of professional societies. As engineers test designs for ever-increasing speeds, loads, capacities and the like, they must always be aware of their obligation to society to protect the public welfare. After all, the public has provided engineers, through the tax base, with the means for obtaining an education and, through legislation, the means to license and regulate themselves. In return, engineers have a responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of the public in all of their professional efforts. This is part of the implicit social contract all engineers have agreed to when they accepted admission to an engineering college. The first canon in the ASME Code of Ethics urges engineers to "hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties." Every major engineering code of ethics reminds engineers of the importance of their responsibility to keep the safety and well being of the public at the top of their list of priorities. Although company loyalty is important, it must not be allowed to override the engineer's obligation to the public. Marcia Baron, in an excellent monograph on loyalty, states: "It is a sad fact about loyalty that it invites...single-mindedness. Single-minded pursuit of a goal is sometimes delightfully romantic, even a real inspiration. But it is hardly something to advocate to engineers, whose impact on the safety of the public is so very significant. Irresponsibility, whether caused by selfishness or by magnificently unselfish loyalty, can have most unfortunate consequences."
Source:
http://ethics.tamu.edu/ethics/shuttle/shuttle1.htm
regards,
dave
