One of the main criticisms about the design of the US Space Shuttle was it's lack of an escape mechanism from the launch pad though the first two minutes of flight.
Unlike capsules, the Space Shuttle could not use an escape tower, similar to what Apollo and Soyuz use. If something happens during liftoff, the crew had to ride it out to Solid Rocket Booster separation, where an abort sequence is performed by the pilots involving flipping the shuttle 180 degrees around to head back to the launch site while under power.
But either way, the crew had no chance of escape during the first two minutes of flight.
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