The Challenger Space Shuttle Program

In 1982, National Security Decision Directive wanted NASA to focus on making a fully operational space shuttle program. The program was to be cost efficient and have at twenty-four flights per year. By 1985 though, NASA had only managed nine flights for a given year. The shuttle they were using was nine-billion dollars, and wasn’t cost efficient as desired. Then, in 1986, NASA planned its largest number of flights yet. They had fifteen scheduled flights, one that would involve a teacher in the debut of the Teacher-in-Space program. The day before the launch of the Challenger, the flight was debated about if it were to be delayed because of weather. The Challenger space shuttle would have seven members aboard, one being high school teacher Christa …show more content…
Temperatures were under freezing temperatures in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Icicles form on the launch pad as this was the lowest temperature ever that NASA was going to launch a space shuttle. The members, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. boarded the Challenger which was around sixty degrees fahrenheit inside. The members were unaware of an argument over the launch the day before about possibly flawed o-rings, rubber seals, on the Challenger. “Personnel involved with o-rings knew they were a component given a rating of Criticality 1” , meaning that a major problem would cause the death of all members in the craft. People gathered around to watch the Challenger be launched, including friends and family of the members, unaware of the disaster about to happen. The launch as ready to go, everything seemed fine as the Challenger lift off. Suddenly, seventy-three seconds after lift off, the Challenger exploded. The flawed o-rings had let hot gasses and flame reach the fuel tank, igniting the Challenger. People were shocked, those there and those watching at home at the live broadcast. They waited, a broadcast from mission control stated that they had lost communication with the …show more content…
The space shuttle program had been grounded, and the public’s view on NASA decreased greatly. In the next few days Ronald Reagan eulogized the crew. “On Feb. 3, 1986, Reagan established a Presidential Commission to investigate the accident, appointing former Secretary of State William B. Rogers as the commission chair” states Neil Schlager, a graduate of Southern Methodist University in history. They found the module where the members were located in the ocean, and later discovered that the some of the members survived the initial explosion. Scientists speculate that three of the seven members survived the explosion, but they wouldn´t survived the impact with the water. O-ring failures, like what caused the Challenger explosion, were discovered to have happened in the past. The o-ring failures in the past were not as major, and therefore ignored by the managers that approved the launch. The members were buried later, with honors and respect from the public. The space shuttle program was grounded until 1988 due to the Challenger Explosion