They knew they were taking some gambles to try to catch up in the Space Race. The urgency that justified those gambles was the Cold War.

People have a social tendency to become complacent about catastrophic risks when there hasn't been a catastrophe recently. There's a natural pressure to "stay chill" when the people around you have decided to do so. Speaking out about risk is scary unless there's a culture of people encouraging other to speak out and taking the risks seriously because they all remember how bad things can be if they don't.

Someone actually has to stand up and say "if something is wrong I really actually want to and need to know." And the people hearing that message have to believe it, because usually it is said in a way that it is not believed.