Managers at Rockwell told shuttle program manager Arnold Aldrich that they could not completely assure that the shuttle was safe to launch, but failed to communicate a firm recommendation against launching. ![]() They warned that ice might be shaken loose during launch, and might either strike the shuttle or be aspirated by its main engines. Although the KSC ice team had worked through the night removing ice, engineers at Rockwell International, the shuttle's prime contractor, still expressed concern. Although several engineers-most notably Roger Boisjoly-expressed their concern about the effect of the temperature on the resilience of the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the solid rocket boosters, Morton Thiokol managers in the end decided to recommend that the launch should go ahead.ĭue to the low temperatures, a significant amount of ice built up on the fixed service structure that stood beside the shuttle. ![]() At a teleconference which took place on the evening of the 27th, Thiokol engineers and managers discussed the weather conditions with NASA managers from Kennedy Space Centre and Marshall Space Flight Centre. The low temperatures had prompted concern from engineers at Morton Thiokol, the contractor responsible for the construction and maintenance of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. The morning of the 28th dawned unusually cold, with temperatures having dropped into the low twenties overnight. When the fixture was finally sawn off, cross winds at the Shuttle Landing Facility exceeded the limits for a Return to Launch Site (RTLS) abort, and thus the launch was delayed once again. Launch was then delayed 24 hours when the pad technicians could not remove a closing fixture from the orbiter's hatch. Predictions of unacceptable weather at Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) caused the launch to be rescheduled for 9:37 am EST on the 27th. NASA decided to use Casablanca as the TAL site, but because it was not equipped for night landings, the launch had to be moved to the morning ( Florida time). Launch was then rescheduled for the 25th due to bad weather at the Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) site in Dakar, Senegal. However, delays suffered by the previous mission, STS-61-C, caused the launch date to be pushed back to the 23rd and then to the 24th. Ice on the launch tower on the morning of the Challenger launch.Ĭhallenger's launch was originally set for 2:43 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 22. The Challenger disaster has been used as a case study in many discussions of engineering safety and workplace ethics and has inspired a television movie, Challenger, which was made in 1990. Media coverage of the accident was extensive: one study reported that 85 percent of Americans surveyed in a poll had heard the news within an hour of the accident. Many schoolchildren saw the launch live due to the presence on the crew of Christa McAuliffe, the first member of the Teacher in Space Project. The Rogers Commission offered NASA nine recommendations that were to be implemented before shuttle flights resumed. NASA managers had failed to deal with the flawed design of the O-rings, had ignored warnings from engineers about the dangers of launching on such a cold day, and had failed to adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors. The Rogers Commission found that NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes had been a key contributing factor to the accident. The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and rescue operation. The shuttle was destroyed and all seven crew members were killed, probably when the crew compartment hit the surface of the ocean. ![]() Within seconds, the flame caused structural failure of the external tank, and the orbiter broke up abruptly due to aerodynamic forces. The seal failure caused a flame leak from the solid rocket booster that impinged upon the adjacent external propellant tank. EST on January 28, 1986, when the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a space disaster that occurred at 11:39 a.m. The accident caused the death of all seven members of the STS-51-L mission. The iconic image of Space Shuttle Challenger's smoke plume after its breakup 73 seconds after launch.
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