Their mission exemplified man’s noblest and most. On January 28, 1986, the seven crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Challenger Teacher in Space mission, scheduled to be the 25 th space shuttle mission in American history, set out to broaden educational horizons and advance scientific knowledge. The orbiter broke into many sections and plummeted to the ocean, 16 kilometres below. The Story of the Challenger Space Shuttle. The force of the explosion blew away the SRBs, which continued to travel on an uncontrolled path. In an instant, the nose of the SRB punctured the external tank causing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to burst out of their pressurised tanks and immediately ignite in a ball of flame.
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The gap in the casing opened further, eventually causing the bottom of the booster to break free from the external tank. But as the shuttle passed through max-Q (maximum aerodynamic pressure), the 'material' was shaken out and flame licked out the side of the SRB. The join held, possibly due to burnt material blocking the exit of exhaust through the side. One set of O-rings on the right hand SRB immediately burnt away, releasing a puff of black smoke immediately after lift-off. Because the rings were frozen, during this launch they took a fraction of a second longer to expand. The night before, the decision was made to go aheadĪs the SRBs ignited, the hot gases inside immediately caused the O-rings to expand in the casing joints to prevent flame leaking out sideways. 28, 1986, exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crewmembers and changing NASA's space program forever. However management needed to get the mission underway,Īs soon as possible. The space shuttle Challenger during its 10th launch on Jan.
Space Center and what effect it would have on the space shuttle, particularly Several engineers raised concerns over the low temperature at Kennedy Had already flown its mission, after numerous delays and now Challenger
The schedule for 1986 originally listed 12 flights. Of being a space taxi - one of the goals NASA promised when it was firstĭesigned. The pressure was on NASA to make the space shuttle fulfil its promise Challenger was traveling at a speed of Mach 1.92, at a height of 46,000 feet. Were dressed in heavy coats and scarves - an unusual sight for tropical The main explosion was the Hydrogen and Oxygen that come from the External Tank. Iciclesįormed on the space shuttle launch pad, and people waiting for the launch The morning of 27 January 1986 was particularly cold in the USA. In some ways, the loss of Columbia affected me more deeply than Challenger.The Space Shuttle Files: The Challenger Disaster - ABC Science Online Another decade passed and, now a teacher myself, I returned to my school one cold Monday morning to explain to my pupils what had happened to Challenger's sister ship, Columbia, a few days earlier. Five years later, I gave a speech on the STS-51L disaster to my teacher as part of my GCSE English assessment. In September 1988, aged 11,1 came home from school to watch STS-26 return the Shuttle fleet to orbital operations. Admittedly, my fascination with rockets and astronauts, stars and planets had begun several years earlier, but Challenger's destruction turned it from an occasional hobby to a fascination which has remained with me ever since. The Space Shuttle Challenger mural, which was placed directly across from Coxs work, depicts the seven astronauts in space suits, grouped in front of the space. I watched the entire horror unfold live on all of the network stations. On the morning of January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched for the 10th time, beginning mission STS-51-L.
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My parents were, at the time, midway through moving house and, luckily, the TV was one of the few domestic items still to be packed. Ironically, the loss of Challenger in January 1986 fired my interest in space exploration more than any other single event.
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