In an article from the Daily Breeze in Torrance, California, author, Paul Recer explains why The Challenger was not successful in its take off. Unlike spacecrafts Apollo and Gemini, who had also previously taken off from Cape Canaveral, The Challenger did not have parachutes and had to handle launch emergencies by landing the shuttle. In order for a space shuttle to land properly and safely, it should not experience cross winds greater than seventeen miles per hour, and any cross winds stronger than this should result in a launch delay. However, on the day of the launch, cross winds from the west were blowing across the launch site in Cape Canaveral at a speed of twenty miles per hour and with gusts up to thirty two miles per hour. This wind
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Reporters reveal that President Reagan interrupted a meeting with his top aides in the Oval Office once he got word of that the shuttle he had sent a school teacher on had suddenly burst into flames. Sources say that he immediately stood up in “stunned silence” while he watched the television re-run of the explosion. The President sent Vice President, George Bush to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to express his sympathies to the families of the astronauts who were aboard the space shuttle. When asked about the teacher astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, Reagan had this to say. “It’s a terrible thing. I just can’t get out of my mind her husband, her children, as well as the families of the others on board.” However, Reagan went on to “express confidence” in those bright minds behind the United States space program and made sure to reiterate that the people aboard the spacecraft volunteered for the mission. Reagan was heavily criticized about the death of the school teacher aboard and reporters asked him what he would tell those schoolchildren who were to complete several planned assignments on the mission and therefore paid closer attention to the flight than others. To this Reagan replied, “The world is a hazardous place, always has been, in pioneering. And we’ve always known that there are pioneers that give their lives out there on …show more content…
The article goes on to explain that there was no way that the crew could have survived and that the $1.2 billion spacecraft was in fact, completely destroyed. The Challenger disaster was the first “in-the-air disaster” in fifty six United States “man-in-space missions.” After several technical and weather related delays, The Challenger successfully launched at 11:38 a.m. EST and appeared to be fine until it abruptly exploded into a “huge fireball.” The total crew consisted of Judith Resnik, 36; Christa McAuliffe, 37; commander Francis R. Scobee, 46; pilot Michael J. Smith, 40; Ronald E. McNair, 35; Ellison S. Onizuka, 39; and Gregory B. Jarvis, 41. The spacecraft fell about twelve and a half miles off Cape
Reporters reveal that President Reagan interrupted a meeting with his top aides in the Oval Office once he got word of that the shuttle he had sent a school teacher on had suddenly burst into flames. Sources say that he immediately stood up in “stunned silence” while he watched the television re-run of the explosion. The President sent Vice President, George Bush to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to express his sympathies to the families of the astronauts who were aboard the space shuttle. When asked about the teacher astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, Reagan had this to say. “It’s a terrible thing. I just can’t get out of my mind her husband, her children, as well as the families of the others on board.” However, Reagan went on to “express confidence” in those bright minds behind the United States space program and made sure to reiterate that the people aboard the spacecraft volunteered for the mission. Reagan was heavily criticized about the death of the school teacher aboard and reporters asked him what he would tell those schoolchildren who were to complete several planned assignments on the mission and therefore paid closer attention to the flight than others. To this Reagan replied, “The world is a hazardous place, always has been, in pioneering. And we’ve always known that there are pioneers that give their lives out there on …show more content…
The article goes on to explain that there was no way that the crew could have survived and that the $1.2 billion spacecraft was in fact, completely destroyed. The Challenger disaster was the first “in-the-air disaster” in fifty six United States “man-in-space missions.” After several technical and weather related delays, The Challenger successfully launched at 11:38 a.m. EST and appeared to be fine until it abruptly exploded into a “huge fireball.” The total crew consisted of Judith Resnik, 36; Christa McAuliffe, 37; commander Francis R. Scobee, 46; pilot Michael J. Smith, 40; Ronald E. McNair, 35; Ellison S. Onizuka, 39; and Gregory B. Jarvis, 41. The spacecraft fell about twelve and a half miles off Cape