happened at first. The Challenger shuttle (STS-51-L) was unstable. The engineers warned the seven astronauts that the rubber O-rings, which sealed the joints inside of the solid rocket boosters, had a tendency of failing in low temperature situations. The advice to the crew had gone overlooked and the shuttle still took off. Now, it seems as though this whole disaster could have been avoided. At .678 seconds, there was grey smoke puffing out near the AFT field joint in the right Solid Rocket Booster, an area facing the External Tank. This indicated that the booster was not sealing correctly. In just 73 seconds the shuttle burst into flames ,due to a reaction from the fuel tank splitting and mixing with the liquid hydrogen and oxygen. An O-ring inside of each booster almost indefinitely ensures the sealing of the booster will occur. However, there is a chance that an O-ring will malfunction due to very cold weather, similar to the morning that the STS-51-L Challenger shuttle made liftoff. The incorrect sealing of the booster caused a small explosion, which made a reaction between the hydrogen and oxygen inside of the right solid rocket booster . The Challenger shuttle crew compartment detached from the main ship and hit the Atlantic Ocean at 200 MPH. Scientists couldn’t determine whether it was the fire or the impact that killed the crew. Remains of the ship and crew were later found in the Atlantic Ocean. The STS-51-L Challenger mission greatly impacted space…
The STS-51-L was a shuttle by NASA that exploded 73 seconds after lift off and killed 7 American astronauts. It takes NASA 1.5 billion dollars to launch a rocket. Therefore, in 73 seconds NASA wasted 1.5 billion dollars and cost us 7 precious lives. Between the years of 1964 and 1999 there have been twenty launches. Within those twenty launches six were failed missions, which in turn lost the U.S $9 Billion. NASA in the future would like to spend about 500 million dollars on each shuttle they…
January 28,1986, was a tragic day in history. It was the day that the STS-51-L mission was the 25th flight launch of the Space Shuttle Program. The mission ended as a tragic, the Challenger suddenly had a catastrophic disaster with only 73 seconds from lift off, the shuttle killed all seven crew members. The Space Shuttle Disaster has a rememberance memorial in Washington D.C in the Arlington National Cemetery. The national Aeronautics and Space Administration will always remember the day that…
temperatures. This report investigates the main causes and mechanisms of the failure. Key design changes, correcting the design flaws, incorporated in the aftermath of the disaster are also discussed. Figure 1: Overview of sequence of events 2. Statement of Problem Challenger was the second orbiter of NASA's space shuttle program to be put into service, after Columbia. The orbiter was launched and landed nine times before breaking apart 73 seconds into its tenth mission, STS-51-L. This poses a…
So the design of such missiles, or for that subject most military aerospace facilities, were very comprehensive and that need robust temperature requirements. The normal low-temperature design condition was 65 degrees under zero Fahrenheit (–54°C). After, since the winter was freezing in some areas such as Wyoming, North Dakota, or Maine for your delicate missile, it would be bad and embarrassing to avoid participating in a nuclear exchange. This same robust design philosophy applied to more…
On the morning of January 28, 1986, at 11:39 a.m., President Ronald Reagan sat in the Oval Office with his team of advisors putting the finishing touches on his State of the Union speech, which was slated to occur that evening (Cannon, “Challenger Disaster”). At this same moment in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the space shuttle Challenger began its launch. However, this spacecraft would never exit our atmosphere; 73 seconds after liftoff, it exploded, killing all seven passengers (“Challenger…
3rd Interview (1970-1980) When Marlena Peel was growing up, she played outside everyday and came home for dinner to the ringing of a bell. With her neighborhood friends she played games, rode bikes, and skated on skateboards. However, they never wore helmets or knee pads, and seat belts were never used passed infant car seats. When asked about popular fads, Marlena replied, “Big hair, parachute pants, and MTV was all the rage.” ATM’s, microwaves, touch tone phones, and the Internet were all…
On January 28, 1986, Challenger, an American space shuttle exploded momentarily after lift off shocking the nation; including the children viewing from their classrooms. The crew of Challenger included seven members, but most notably was a school teacher Christa McAuliffe who was invited with the intent to teach school children from the shuttle. This incident received massive amounts of media coverage, and on the same day as the incident, President Ronald Reagan conducted his speech. Ronald…
It’s January 28th, 1986, a cold day at Cape Canaveral as we are ready to launch the 25th space shuttle mission. Space Shuttle Challenger sits there on the launch pad, like a huge giant ready to take on its journey to space. The crowd goes silent and the countdown begins: 3, 2, 1 . . . lift off! Challenger begins its ascent to the most unforgiving place: outer space. Carrying aboard the first teacher ever to go into space, the crew soars higher than the heavens. All of a sudden, tragedy unveils…
There was firsts including the first night launch and landing and the first operational Spacelab flight. There were many people firsts around the time of the space shuttle crash including “the first American female astronaut, Sally Ride, who rode up on Challenger on STS-7 in June 1983. The first African-American, Guion Bluford, reached space on STS-8. On STS-41G in 1984, two women Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan, flew on one mission for the first time as well as the first Canadian, Marc Garneau”…