> If the Challenger launch had been pushed back what major effects would there have been?

An administrator would’ve missed a promotion.

I think it’s not even a missed promotion but a perceived risk of one- which may or may not be accurate.

That is a very uncharitable thing to say unless you have proof.

What was the public sentiment of the Shuttle at the time? What was Congress sentiment? Was there organizational fear in NASA that the program would be cancelled if launches were not timely?

you need to establish which complaints can delay a launch. The parent comment is arguing that you need to set some kind of threshold on that. In practice, airplanes fly a little bit broken all the time. We have excellent data and theory and failsafes which allow that to be the case, but it's written in blood.

> If the Challenger launch had been pushed back what major effects would there have been?

The point is it's not just the Challenger launch. It's every launch.