all systems go?

i'm really not one for conspiracy theory, or even one to revel in the incompetance of government agencies...

and i understand that euphemisms sometimes serve an important social function...

but i was listening to a story this morning on NPR about the upcoming NASA launch of space shuttle discovery and i found it pretty interesting.

apparently the 20 highest ranking NASA guys had their big vote the other day - the launch is scheduled as planned, even though the chief engineer and the head of SAFETY voted "no go."

now, i know absolutely nothing about rocket science, but this decision makes me nervous.
the HEAD ENGINEER and HEAD SAFETY GUYS think this a bad idea and we're doing it anyway? disconcerting on a tangible level, and also in more of a spidy sense way. aren't they just asking for something bad to happen, what with going ahead with a launch inspite of this very public vote.

the most entertaining aspect of the story was actually the "go" executives talking about why they were pro-launch. sure, there have been a few "loss of vehicle incidents," but these no go votes represent "healthy debate."

i'm not reassured.