There are plenty of NASA engineers and leaders who lose their cool. I’m only saying that so people don’t overly lionize them in a way that prevents them from pursuing a similar job because they feel they are somehow cut from a different cloth.
“The O-rings were never tested in extreme cold.”[1]
There wasn’t data which led to discussions about uncertainty, but that shouldn’t be conflated with irrefutable evidence of failure.
The obviousness of it (like many engineering failures) was only apparent in hindsight.
“Evidence, in retrospect, points to a long period of time, especially based on post-flight inspections when the joint design weakness was ‘sending a message’ and the true potential of this message was not perceived and reacted to.”[2]
“Not perceived” isn’t compatible with “irrefutable evidence that it would fail”.
[1] https://www.space.com/31732-space-shuttle-challenger-disaste...
[2]https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-99hrpt1016/pdf/...
You can see how NASA people react to tough situations by watching the videos of mission control during the Challenger and Columbia disasters. No shouting. No arguments. Just cool professionalism and restrained emotions.
They have a job to do, and they do it well even under stress. "Steely-eyed missile men/women" indeed.