Challenge Disaster Opt In 2 Assignment

Overview: The Challenger spaceshuttle launched on its 10th mission on Jan. 28, 1986. 73 seconds after liftoff, live television coverage showed the shuttle break apart and disappear from view. Challenger's STS-51L mission was the first shuttle liftoff scheduled for Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. After several technical and weather-related delays, Challenger launched at 11:38 a.m.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_10T4UYpzV8&feature=related

• What technical problem caused this accident? Please describe with some detail.
• Studies later showed that a seal, called an O-ring, on the shuttle's right solid rocket booster had failed at liftoff, allowing pressurized hot gas to escape from inside the booster.
• This vaporized material impinged on the strut connecting the solid rocket booster to the shuttle's huge orange external tank which caused both pieces of hardware to break down.
• About 72 seconds into Challenger's flight there was a massive burning of the hydrogen that was streaming from the failed tank bottom, combined with liquid oxygen leaking from a part of the fuel tank known as the intertank.
• Under severe aerodynamic loads, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean one second later, or one minute and 13 seconds after launch.
• The 7 crew members on board died becuase of such a stong impact of the crew cabinet hitting the Atlantic Ocean.

• What was the big picture problem that set the conditions for this accident?
• A review board determined that exceptionally cold weather contributed to the failure of the O-ring seal. NASA concluded that the shuttle was not safe to fly at such cold temperatures.

• What implications did this have for the US Space Program? For the nation?
• All the crew died becuase the crew cabin hit the Atlantic Ocean at such a large impact. Therefore, mourning, and greif was a problem after the disaster occured. Families were sad because of their lost loved ones.
• The loss of Challenger and its seven-astronaut crew shone a light on NASA and the risks involved with human spaceflight. The media was all over the disaster becuase it was a big issue with the safety of spaceflight.
•  The Challenger disaster stopped NASA's space shuttle program for almost three years as the agency investigated the causes of the accident. During that time, NASA worked to implement suggestions from the presidential panel charged with studying Challenger's doomed STS-51L mission (Rogers Commission).
• A 225-page report was published June 9, 1986, the Rogers Commission documented the physical and organizational causes of the in-flight catastrophe. The commission found issues in NASA's decision-making processes (weather) and construction flaws in O-rings and the shuttle solid rocket boosters.
• The commission offered nine main recommendations, and NASA's space shuttle program saw a 32-month stopping period as the agency implemented changes and reformed launch procedures. Space shuttle flights resumed Sept. 29, 1988, with Discovery's STS-26 mission.
• The Nation had to invest in time with NASA to make sure there would be no more fatal disasters in space. There was money needed to conduct the studies being done by NASA and other space organizations as well.
• Safety became the NUMBER ONE concern of space shutte travel!!!!

• What other challenges have the Space Shuttles encountered?
• On Feb. 1, 2003, seven astronauts lost their lives as the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during its return from its STS-107 mission.
• The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into th Earth's atmosphere resulting in the death of all seven crew members.
• The loss of Columbia was a result of damage sustained during launch when a piece of foam insulation broke off the Space Shuttle's external tank (the main propellant tank) under the aerodynamic forces of launch.
• The debris struck the leading edge of the left wing, damaging the Shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS), which protects it from heat generated with the atmosphere during re-entry.