Challenger Disaster Whistleblower Richard Cook on Government Coverups

NASA whistleblower Richard Cook is the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age. After the much-ballyhooed “teacher-in-space” Challenger space shuttle blew up, killing all crew members, in January, 1986, Cook spearheaded the partial unraveling of the coverup by feeding inside information and documents to journalists. Giving the lie to NASA propaganda, Cook showed that the lethal problem with the O-rings was common knowledge at NASA, including at its highest echelons. The Challenger obviously never should have flown in such cold conditions, not only due to the O-ring problem but also because of potential damage from ice. But political pressure from the top of the Reagan Administration—and “customer” pressure from the Star-Wars-addled military—overrode common sense and standard operating procedure. The result was a shocking national tragedy, followed by a coverup featuring widespread perjury and obstruction of justice. The truth (“Reagan murdered those astronauts by insisting on an unsafe launch so he could talk to the ‘teacher-in-space’ during his State of the Union speech”) was so toxic that just about everyone eventually fell in line with the coverup.

I sent Richard some questions in advance of the interview, and he offered tentative answers:Here are some questions (sorry about all the “conspiracy” stuff, but that’s my bailiwick).

In what ways was the Challenger disaster emblematic of the creeping corruption of the 1980s? Or should we describe it as a coup d’etat, since Reagan seems to have been installed by hyper-militaristic Deep State players who cut a deal with Iranians to keep the US hostages imprisoned, throwing the election to Reagan-Bush?

I worked in the Jimmy Carter White House at the time of the Reagan takeover. It was definitely a Deep State coup–no question about that at all. But it was also part of a continuity that began with the takeover of U.S. foreign policy by the CIA and military in the 1950s, continued with their assassination of the Kennedys in the 1960s, then on through the Reagan Revolution, the first Iraq war, 9/11, and all that has happened since then. Obama was obviously a CIA asset, as was Trump. It’s a joke to call the US a democracy with two parties that hate each other being egged on by a controlled media while the military prepares for the next phase of endless war.

You mention Barbara Honegger in connection with the October Surprise coup against Carter. Have you followed her career as a 9/11-anthrax investigator, and if so, what do you think of her work?

I don’t know anything about Barbara Honegger except what is in my book.

How was the Challenger explosion both a result of plans for the weaponization of space, and then a roadblock in those plans?

Challenger can’t be understood at all without focusing on the weaponization of space. We’ll need to cover that in detail.

Are you familiar with David Ray Griffin’s view that 9/11 was among other things a pretext to ramp up the weaponization of space, and if so, do you agree?

Not familiar with David Ray Griffin’s argument about a connection between 9/11 and weaponization of space. However, one purpose of 9/11 was certainly a false flag event to advance the Deep State agenda. Weaponization of space is a key part of that agenda. The military still favors a first strike on Russia and now China. Weaponization of space has always been a search for how to do that.

NASA as described in your book does not seem competent enough to have pulled off the Apollo moon landings and gotten all the astronauts back alive. Many of my listeners, including one former NASA engineer, tend to agree with the perspective expressed in this article: https://www.unz.com/article/the-moon-landing-a-giant-hoax-for-mankind/  Your thoughts?

NASA as described in my book was a far cry from the organization that put men on the moon. The key player in this was Dr. Werner von Braun along with his team of German engineers. NASA got rid of Von Braun because he opposed the technology of the space shuttle. I give no credence at all to theories that the moon landing was faked. As a professional analyst I want to see the evidence, and there isn’t any. Nor, as a career government employee, do I believe thateverything the government says and does is a lie.

Another “conspiracy” school of thought holds that a nefarious earthling elite is clashing with a relatively benign federation of extraterrestrials, and that the ETs oppose earthling efforts to weaponize space—hence reports of ETs disabling nuclear weapons, etc. This seems to be the view of a former Canadian Defense Minister:  https://noliesradio.org/archives/93985  Any thoughts or inisghts?

The question of extraterrestrials is a fascinating one. I have studied this in detail and tend to dismiss the claims about UFOs, etc., as no one has ever been able to prove their existence in a rigorous scientific way. Also, everything that has been claimed via channeling, trance states, etc., can easily be dismissed as hoax, hallucinations, or possibly possession. At the same time, it stands to reason that in the infinity of space many other planets host human-like beings. However, I do believe that what has been overlooked is the real possibility of beings or influences acting on human beings from other spiritual dimensions. Yes, I do believe there are celestial beings who oppose the nefarious designs of earthly elites. I also give credence to the idea that earth is a battleground between good and evil, possibly reflecting the religious idea of good vs. fallen angels battling it out. There is no question in my mind that the human proponents of war, injustice, etc., are “possessed” by demonic forces, possibly of different kinds. It thereby becomes the sacred duty of the rest of us to resist those influences, at least by not going along with them in our own lives. This is definitely something we can talk about. Also, Bo Yin Ra has a lot to say about these matters, especially in his essay “War and Peace” in The Book on the Living God.

Dr. Bob Bowman, who played a major role in your Challenger investigation, later became a leading member of the 9/11 truth movement. What do you think motivated him to pursue these difficult truths instead of going along with the program like most of his peers?

I don’t know what motivated Bowman, except that he was an honest, competent professional with backbone.

Richard Feynman (I used to teach some of his stuff in a humanities class on creativity) threw a couple of monkey wrenches into the Challenger coverup, but didn’t take it down. Why didn’t he make a bigger stink, such as resigning from the Commission and loudly stating what he thought really happened?

On Richard Feynman, I think he knew much more than he said, but he was, after all, a big name with a reputation to protect. I think he was afraid to rock the boat more than he did. I am sure that if he did resign from the Commission to speak out that the government and press would have let him have it with both barrels. Also, he may have been subject to threats and blackmail based on his personal life. I am sure that someone of his status had a CIA dossier.

Your book documents crimes by high government officials including reckless endangerment if not manslaughter or worse, (conspiracy to commit) perjury, and obstruction of justice. Yet you say “I ultimately realized that every person involved in the tragedy and subsequent events only did what seemed right to them at the time.” How can we understand this apparent paradox? Might it also apply to such crimes as political assassinations, false flag mass murders, biological warfare attacks that (potentially or actually) kill millions or billions, ritual satanic abuse by pedophile blackmail rings…at what point does elite deviance stop being well-intentioned? Is there a distinction between well-intentioned elite criminals and the other kind, and how do we draw that distinction?

I do believe that most people, including those who do evil, make some excuse for themselves at the moment when they cave in to internal or external weaknesses. I would put Reagan in this category. Of course, the caving-in easily becomes habitual or a way of life. Beyond this there are no doubt a few who do evil for the enjoyment of it. I think of my previous comment about fallen angels. I am presently reading about Hitler, and find that even he was making excuses for himself and rationalizing his actions based on assumptions he believed to have some truth behind them. I’m not too sure about Lenin and Stalin, however.\

And finally…Why the *&% didn’t Ron and Nancy Reagan listen to their astrologer?! (Who advised against the Challenger launch.)

I think that what Reagan’s astrologer told him probably was a surprise to him. By the time he got that advice, too many plans were already in motion.

I agree that what you have written about spiritual renewal as the only way out of our dilemmas is absolutely true. For myself, Bo Yin Ra is my guide in that direction. He says that as long as there is hate there will be war. So we have to find and uproot the hatred in ourselves as the first step.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kevinbarrett.substack.com