Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster - 22 Years Ago Today

[DaveDragon]

Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster - 22 Years Ago Today (http://davedragon.rilysi.com/2008/01/challenger-space-shuttle-disaster.html)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Challenger_Launch.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Challenger_Launch.jpg)
22 years ago today on January 28, 1986 saw the launch and destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

STS-51-L (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger) left the launch pad at Cape Canaveral (Kennedy Space Center) Florida. 73 seconds later the Orbiter, External Fuel Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters exploded into a massive fireball over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven (7) crew members aboard.

Challenger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger) was destroyed in the orbiter's tenth mission when an O-ring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-ring) seal on its right solid rocket booster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Booster) (SRB) failed.

The O-rings failed to seal due to a variety of factors, including unusually cold temperatures.

This failure allowed a plume of flame to leak out of the SRB and impinge on both the external fuel tank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_External_Tank) and SRB aft attachment strut. This caused both structural failure of the ET and the SRB pivoting into the orbiter and ET. The vehicle assembly then broke apart under aerodynamic loads.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Challenger_flight_51-l_crew.jpg/200px-Challenger_flight_51-l_crew.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Challenger_flight_51-l_crew.jpg/750px-Challenger_flight_51-l_crew.jpg)
The crew of Challenger STS-51-L pose for their official portrait on November 15, 1985.
Back row, left to right: Ellison S. Onizuka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellison_S._Onizuka), Sharon Christa McAuliffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Christa_McAuliffe), Greg Jarvis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Jarvis), and Judy Resnik (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Resnik).
Front row, left to right: Michael J. Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Smith_%28astronaut%29), Dick Scobee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Scobee), and Ron McNair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_McNair).

Rest in Peace you Brave Americans; God's Speed.

LATER

[Woolly]

Scary it happened, and scary it was 22 years ago.

[cfell]

I know folks who worked on the recovery and investigation. There is much that went wrong... and much that went right, especially when "Mission" is placed above "cost".

RIP, Shuttle team STS-51-L.... thanks for dreaming the dream....

[zippy_gg]

I remember the day... I was in technical training when it happened... All classes stopped and everyone gathered in front of the few TVs we had to watch in disbelief...

[Woolly]

+1 to 'RIP, Shuttle team STS-51-L.... thanks for dreaming the dream...'

I remember at the time thinking it was weird that it took them so long to find the flight deck - with all the tracking systems, radar etc, I was thinking at the time it took far too long. Then, a few years later, I seem to remember hearing about a book relaying the true story of the Challenger SAR mission. The book (which I never read, just heard about) said that the crew were alive on the sea bed for an agonisingly long while - evidence for this was facial hair growth, finger nail scratches on the back of the pilot/ co pilots seats, etc., and for some reason, it was to the governments advantage not to find the crew alive. Anyone remember the book ? or heard similar hypotheses ?

[Fedexrider]

I was a WC130 Crew Chief in the USAF when this happened and my aircraft was tasked with flying this launch. We would mount a high powered camera in the aircraft and fly 80 to 100 miles downrange and film the launch until the solid rocket boosters disengaged then follow them back to the sea surface. I had all my flight time for the month so I let my assistant fly this one. He said there was a lot of confusion when the explosion first happened as the camera crew were trying to figure out what to film and being the good military trained crew they were, they stuck with the solid rocket boosters as best they could. The crew said it went from confusion to total silence when everyone realized what they were seeing. Once they finished filming they were called in to fly search and rescue but had to pull back out as debris was still falling from above them. Once they determined it was safe to go back in they flew SAR until they ran out of fuel then landed at Patrick AFB to refuel and drop off their film. Very depressed crew returning that day and I still have mixed feelings about not flying that launch. A lot of the footage you see of that attenpted launch came from us and a Navy P3 doing the same thing just at a lower altitude.

[hoog62]

Very tough to watch something you've taken great pride in, destroyed in a matter of seconds. I worked for Morton Thiokol at the time, and remember getting a dirty look from the bank teller when I cashed my check the next Friday.

Woolly- There is evidence that some survived the initial break-up, but it's extremely unlikely they could have survived impacting the water.

[Morley]

I was TDY at Edwards AFB and watched the previous shuttle land, get loaded on the 747 and leave. Then we heard about a shuttle exploding and thought they meant the one on the 747. Little did we realize until we saw the news.

[Ted Shred]

I remember that all too well:( I was 11 and in the six grade. We had one of those enormous console TV's in the classroom that someone donated and we watched it ALL day. Very sad....