The Challenger was a space shuttle created by NASA and launched multiple times into space until 1986 when it exploded killing all 7 on board. It caused the shutdown of shuttle programs for 3 years and brought into question NASA’s ethics. It was also watched by almost 17% of America and within the hour, approximately 90% of America had heard of the news of the disaster. This forced the President to cancel and reschedule his State of Union Address which was has only ever happened once.
The expedition was supposed to take the first teacher ever to space yet just 73 seconds after initial takeoff, the rocket and the shuttle burst into flame and broke apart. This would eventually lead to the deaths of all 7 members of the expedition. One sad prospect of this disaster was that after an intensive review, NASA concluded that the passengers of Challenger were alive and conscious after the explosion as the cabin itself had been sealed and pressurized. This is supported by the evidence that some members activated their emergency air packs after the explosion during the free fall. They also concluded that the amount of g force that the cabin would experience throughout the freefall would not be sufficient enough to cause them to black out. This lead to the conclusion that they could’ve been conscious for the three minutes of free fall until they hit the ocean knowing that something had gone wrong, but unable to do anything about it.
The disaster itself was caused by a malfunction of two O-rings on the rocket booster. The failure of these O-rings has been a major point of controversy because there were a lot of warning about the O-rings. Scientists both in and outside of NASA had both concluded that under extreme cold temperatures like the temperatures that the shuttle had experienced that morning, the O-rings could fail. Furthermore the manufacturers had also ignored safety standards. Despite this, NASA decided to proceed with the launch due to the mounting public pressure and the fact that the launch had already been delayed 6 days due to weather and technical problems.
Therefore, just 73 seconds after liftoff, the space shuttle and its solid booster rockets broke apart in a ball of flame and smoke ending the lives of 7 on board.
https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/challenger-disaster
https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/challenger-disaster
The fact that they were free falling while they were conscience must have been terrifying for them. Knowing that something went wrong with the rocket while also knowing they were going to die stood to me the most. I think this shows the tragic side of NASA and how they were trying to spark interest in outer space and rockets but ended up in an accident.
ReplyDeleteIt always hurts to see when people get killed in the name of science and exploration. These people unwillingly and unknowingly gave their lives so that another disaster could never occur, we owe a great deal of respect and gratitude to them.
ReplyDeleteWow it's really sad that they knew there was a problem with the O-rings and did nothing to fix it just because of public pressure. It's really sad they didn't think about the lives they were risking.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post, as I am quite interested in space travel and exploration. I liked how you gave detailed statistics and a specific description of the event. I was quite surprised by the fact that the cabin was able to withstand the explosion of the rocket. Unfortunately, the Challenger disaster was not the only fatal accident of the Space Shuttle program. On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster