The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster At 11:38 a.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. As the world watched on TV, the Challenger soared into the sky and then, shockingly, exploded just 73 seconds after take-off. All seven members of the crew, including social studies teacher Sharon Christa McAuliffe, died in the disaster. An investigation of the accident discovered that the O-rings of the right solid rocket booster had malfunctioned. Crew of the Challenger Christa McAuliffe (Teacher in Space)Dick Scobee (Commander)Mike Smith (Pilot)Ron McNair (Mission Specialist)Judy Resnik (Mission Specialist)Ellison Onizuka (Mission Specialist)Gregory Jarvis (Payload Specialist) Should the Challenger Have Launched? Around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 1986, in Florida, the seven crew members of the Space Shuttle Challenger were already strapped into their seats. Though they were ready to go, NASA officials were busy deciding whether it was safe enough to launch that day. It had been extremely cold the night before, causing icicles to form under the launch pad. By morning, temperatures were still only 32 ° F. If the shuttle launched that day, it would the coldest day of any shuttle launch. Safety was a huge concern, but NASA officials were also under pressure to get the shuttle into orbit quickly. Weather and malfunctions had already caused many postponements from the original launch date, January 22. If the shuttle didnt launch by February 1, some of the science experiments and business arrangements regarding the satellite would be jeopardized. Plus, millions of people, especially students across the U.S., were waiting and watching for this particular mission to launch. A Teacher on Board Among the crew on board the Challenger that morning was Sharon Christa McAuliffe. McAuliffe, a social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire, had been chosen from 11,000 applicants to participate in the Teacher in Space Project. President Ronald Reagan created this project in August 1984 in an effort to increase public interest in the U.S. space program. The teacher chosen would become the first private citizen in space. A teacher, a wife, and a mother of two, McAuliffe represented the average, good-natured citizen. She became the face of NASA for nearly a year before the launch, and the public adored her. The Launch A little after 11:00 a.m. on that cold morning, NASA told the crew that launch was a go. At 11:38 a.m., the Space Shuttle Challenger launched from Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. At first, everything seemed to go well. However, 73 seconds after lift-off, Mission Control heard Pilot Mike Smith say, Uh oh! Then people at Mission Control, observers on the ground, and millions of children and adults across the nation watched as the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. The nation was shocked. To this day, many remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that the Challenger had exploded. It remains a defining moment in the 20th century. Search and Recovery An hour after the explosion, search and recovery planes and ships searched for survivors and wreckage. Though some pieces of the shuttle floated on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, much of it had sunken to the bottom. No survivors were found.  On January 31, 1986, three days after the disaster, a memorial service was held for the fallen heroes. What Went Wrong? Everyone wanted to know what had gone wrong. On February 3, 1986, President Reagan established the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Former Secretary of State William Rogers chaired the commission, whose members included Sally Ride, Neil Armstrong, and Chuck Yeager. The Rogers Commission carefully studied pictures, video, and debris from the accident. The Commission determined that the accident was caused by a failure in the O-rings of the right solid rocket booster. O-rings sealed the pieces of the rocket booster together. From multiple uses and especially because of the extreme cold on that day, an O-ring on the right rocket booster had become brittle. Once launched, the weak O-ring allowed fire to escape from the rocket booster. The fire melted a support beam that held the booster in place. The booster, then mobile, hit the fuel tank, causing the explosion. Upon further research, it was determined that there had been multiple, unheeded warnings about the potential problems with the O-rings. The Crew Cabin On March 8, 1986, just over five weeks after the explosion, a search team found the crew cabin; it had not been destroyed in the explosion. The bodies of all seven crew members were found, still strapped into their seats. Autopsies were done but exact cause of death was inconclusive. It is believed that at least some of the crew survived the explosion, since three of four emergency air packs found had been deployed. After the explosion, the crew cabin fell over 50,000 feet and hit the water at approximately 200 miles per hour. No one could have survived the impact.