The contract award was based on utter lies. Aside from the financial waste, the Challenger disaster never would have happened with the other team's bid because

The contract award was based on utter lies. Aside from the financial waste, the Challenger disaster never would have happened with the other team's bid because that subcontractor manufactured on the East coast -- boosters would have been manufactured in one piece and floated down on barges, not broken into segments to fit in rail cars (hence the seams and O rings).