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Who was responsible for the Challenger disaster
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On January 26, 1986, one of the greatest disasters of our time occurred. The shuttle, Challenger, blew up in front of a live audience. The space launch was being broadcasted across the United States live from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This launch was one of the most publicized launches due to the first civilian going into space and also that the launch had been delayed six times before.
The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission detailed that the launch took place on January 28, 1986 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The skis about Kennedy Space Center were clear and the sun was out in the sky. However the day was very cold the temperature was only slightly above freezing. This launch was going to be the coldest that NASA had ever launched before. The time of lift off was 11:38 AM Eastern Standard Time, this was when the 25th shuttle mission lifted off and headed towards space.
The diverse seven-member crew of the Challenger made it very media friendly because a civilian was going into space. The crewmembers were Commander Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. NASA wanted to try a new radical approach by trying to rekindle the excitement that once had surrounded the space program. NASA thought that if an everyday American citizen were involved, they could communicate the excitement of space travel to the American public. President Ronald Reagan made the choice that the first ordinary American to travel into space would be a teacher. NASA and President Reagan thought that one of America’s teachers would be the best candidate for the trip because teachers have the ability to communicate to people and get them interested and excited about almost anything.
The shuttle would never make it into space as it exploded only seventy-three seconds after lift off killing all seven members of its crew. The explosion was blamed on the O-rings, a set of gaskets that sealed the joints between the rocket booster sections. They failed due to being exposed to cold weather. When the O-Rings failed the twin booster rockets separated and few off, the shuttle cabin separated and fell ten miles into the ocean. People who watch the videotape at around one second after ignition could see black smoke coming from the right Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). The black smoke suggested that some type of grease that sealed the O-Rings was being burned.
Soon after launch on January 28th, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart and shattered the nation. The tragedy was on the hearts and minds of the nation and President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan addressed the county, commemorating the men and woman whose lives were lost and offering hope to Americans and future exploration. Reagan begins his speech by getting on the same level as the audience by showing empathy and attempting to remind us that this was the job of the crew. He proceeds with using his credibility to promise future space travel. Ultimately, his attempt to appeal to the audience’s emotions made his argument much stronger. Reagan effectively addresses the public about the tragedy while comforting, acknowledging, honoring and motivating his audience all in an effort to move the mood from grief to hope for future exploration.
The Canadarm was launched form earth on the shuttle flight #104 witch is also known as Endeavour. On April 2001 the Endeavour was caring much more then just the Canadarm, it was caring the crew who would install the new Canadarm to the international space stations.
On a cold winter’s morning on the 28th day of January in the year 1986, America was profoundly shaken and sent to its knees as the space shuttle Challenger gruesomely exploded just seconds after launching. The seven members of its crew, including one civilian teacher, were all lost. This was a game changer, we had never lost a single astronaut in flight. The United States by this time had unfortunately grown accustomed to successful space missions, and this reality check was all too sudden, too brutal for a complacent and oblivious nation (“Space”). The outbreak of sympathy that poured from its citizens had not been seen since President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The disturbing scenes were shown repeatedly on news networks which undeniably made it troublesome to keep it from haunting the nation’s cognizance (“Space”). The current president had more than situation to address, he had the problematic undertaking of gracefully picking America back up by its boot straps.
While seated in the Oval Office of the White House, January 28, 1986 President Ronald Reagan delivers his speech The Challenger Disaster hours after the space shuttle The Challenger explodes while in take off. Thousands witnessed this horrifying event live, in person and on television. This mission was very unique, allowing the first civilian to ever be allowed in space during a mission. She was aboard The Challenger as an observer in the NASA Teacher in Space Program. Ironically, nineteen years before this disaster, three astronauts were tragically lost in an accident on the ground.
The Space Race began when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space in 1957. The United States’ answer to this was the Apollo program. While the Apollo program did have successful launches, such as the Apollo 11 launch that landed Americans on the moon, not every launch went as smoothly. Fifty years ago, a disaster occurred that shook the Apollo program to its core. On January 27, 1967, the Apollo 1 command module was consumed by a fire during one of its launch rehearsal tests. This led to the death of three astronauts, Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom, Edward Higgins White, and Roger Bruce Chaffee. The fire was caused by a number of factors, most of which were technical. These causes range from the abundance of oxygen in the atmosphere of the
It was on January 28, 1986 at 11:38 A.M. that the shuttle Challenger, NASA flight 51-L, the twenty-fifth shuttle flight, took off. It was the "Teacher in Space" mission. At lift-off, the temperature at ground level was 36° Fahrenheit, which was 15° Fahrenheit cooler than any previous launch by NASA. It was the Challenger's tenth flight. Take-off had been delayed several times. Finally the shuttle had taken off. The shuttle had climbed high in the sky thirty-five seconds after take-off, and it was getting hit by strong winds. The on board computers were making continuous adjustments so the shuttle would stay on course. About eight miles in the air, about seventy-two seconds after take-off, people watched in fear and horror as the shuttle was engulfed by a huge fire ball. All the crew members were killed instantly.
Ronald Reagan, first starts off with empathy and his condolences when he says” Today is a day of mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of our country. This is truly a national loss.” He is in pain for the families and knows how hard it will be to recover. As well to this he lists all seven “heroes” names in commemoration. Reagan also tries to make this tragedy more positive by explaining to the children who were watching that things sometimes happen and it’s a part of life and growth. He does not give doubt and resent towards the goal of exploring space but hope that they will continue on. Throughout the whole address, Reagan seems very sincere and dependable which makes his rhetoric more effective and persuasive. Next, President Reagan gives his respect to the NASA and also adds “We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public.” What he is trying to show to the people is the sense of freedom in America in regards to other countries. This alone is a way of differentiating great countries, when he says that victims had a special grace and spirt that says “Give me a challenge, and I’ll meet it with joy” is a way of comforting the families and the nation. Reagan’s way of handling and talking to the nations after this tragedy was nevertheless effective and well
Dumoulin, Jim. "Apollo 11." Kennedy Space Center Launching A Vision. 12 Dec. 2001. 13 Dec. 2001 <http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/>.
John F. Kennedy - Presidential Library and Museum. Space Program. 2014. 16 April 2014 .
When the Challenger shuttle was set to launch NASA was feeling political pressure to gain congressional support for the space program, to help gain this support the shuttle crew had a high school teacher on board, Christa McAuliffe, and millions of people were excited and tuned into watch. NASA officials were hoping that this new endeavor would help generate funding since the U.S. budget deficit was soaring and they were afraid that their budget could be cut. Technical failure was the reason the shuttle exploding after take-off but this was not the only reason. With pressure mounting, decisions made by NASA and Morton Thiokol Corporation, the contractor who manufactured the piece with the technical failure, put political agendas in front of the technical decisions, which resulted in the tragedy (Bolman & Deal, 2008).
Even though there were many factors contributing to the Challenger disaster, the most important issue was the lack of an effective risk management plan. The factors leading to the Challenger disaster are:
The Mercury craft was fastened to the top of the booster for launch. Upon reaching the limits of Earth’s atmosphere, the boosters were released from the module, and fell into an uninhabited ocean. The first Mercury launch was performed on May 5, 1961. The ship, Freedom 7, was the first U.S. craft used for manned space flight. Astronaut Alan Shepard, Jr. remained in suborbital flight for 15 minutes and 22 seconds, with an accumulated distance of 116 miles.
The Challenger disaster of 1986 was a shock felt around the country. During liftoff, the shuttle exploded, creating a fireball in the sky. The seven astronauts on board were killed and the shuttle was obliterated. Immediately after the catastrophe, blame was spread to various people who were in charge of creating the shuttle and the parts of the shuttle itself. The Presidential Commission was decisive in blaming the disaster on a faulty O-ring, used to connect the pieces of the craft. On the other hand, Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch, in The Golem at Large, believe that blame cannot be isolated to any person or reason of failure. The authors prove that there are too many factors to decide concretely as to why the Challenger exploded. Collins and Pinch do believe that it was the organizational culture of NASA and Morton Thiokol that allowed the disaster. While NASA and Thiokol were deciding whether to launch, there was not a concrete reason to postpone the mission.
On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost due to structural failure in the left wing. On take-off, it was reported that a piece of foam insulation surrounding the shuttle fleet's 15-story external fuel tanks fell off of Columbia's tank and struck the shuttle's left wing. Extremely hot gas entered the front of Columbia's left wing just 16 seconds after the orbiter penetrated the hottest part of Earth's atmosphere on re-entry. The shuttle was equipped with hundreds of temperature sensors positioned at strategic locations. The salvaged flight recorded revealed that temperatures started to rise in the left wing leading edge a full minute before any trouble on the shuttle was noted. With a damaged left wing, Columbia started to drag left. The ships' flight control computers fought a losing battle trying to keep Columbia's nose pointed forward.
Surprisingly, the United States’ space program started with the Cold War. The Cold war pushed the United States and the Soviet Union into a space race in which both nations rapidly developed space programs and tried to best each other in space exploration (Cold War 1). The Kennedy Space Center was built in Florida as a control center which handled many of the shuttle launches into space (NASA 1). The Space Center was built in Florida for many specific reasons including climate and location (Matson 1). The rapid development of the Space program and the Kennedy Space Center significantly changed the development of the surrounding communities in various ways. The development of NASA and the Space Center was undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and influential undertakings of its time.