Exception: The NASA Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

620 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The history of the challenger space shuttle disaster

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster happened on January 28, 1986, when the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger (OV- 099) (mission STS-51-L) broke apart in its flight in a time which was 73 seconds, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 Eastern Time .The problem in the vehicle began after an O- ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at functioning the way it should be. The O-ring was not designed to fly under unusually cold weather as in this launch (the reason of the disaster). Its failure caused a leak in the SRB joint , allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside …show more content…

January 28 predicted an unusually cold morning, with temperatures close to −1 °C. The Shuttle was never certified to operate in temperatures that is low ( According to some engineers ). The O-rings, as well as many other components, had no test data to support any expectation of a successful launch in such conditions.The decision to launch the Challenger was made without thinking of the consequences. Those people who made that decision were unaware and careless of the recent history of problems concerning the O-rings and the joint. NASA claimed that it did not know of Thiokol's (contractor responsible for the construction and maintenance of the shuttle's SRBs) earlier concerns about the effects of the cold weather on the O-rings, and did not understand that Rockwell International ( the shuttle's prime contractor ) viewed the large amount of ice present on the pad as a constraint to launch. For reasons that are unclear, Thiokol management reversed itself , and recommended that the launch proceed as scheduled NASA ( did not ask why) . Ebeling ( An Engineer who warned of shuttle disaster ) told his wife that night that Challenger would blow

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of the Smoking Gun Memos

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    R. M. Boisjoly had over a quarter-century’s experience in the aerospace industry in 1985 when he became involved in an improvement effort on the O-ring which connect segments of Morton Thiokol’s Solid Rocket Booster. This was used to bring the Space Shuttle into orbit (OEC, 2006). Morton Thiokol is an aerospace company that manufactures the solid propellant rocket motors used to launch the Challenger (Skubik). Boisjoly authored a memo to R.L. Lund, Vice President of Engineering and four others, in regards to his concerns about the flawed O-ring erosion problem. His warnings were ignored leading to the deaths of six astronauts and one social studies teacher.

    Read More

  • Christa Mcauliffe Research Paper

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    This would be McAuliffe’s first and only mission. It would last for seven days. During the mission, she planned on teaching two lessons. The first would include a tour of the Challenger itself. The second would be about the future of space travel. During the Challenger Mission, Christa McAuliffe and six others would use the Challenger. This accommodation had up to two thousand displays and instruments, and carried about five computers. It had been cold that morning of the lift off in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle exploded less than two minutes after take-off. What caused the explosion? The cold temperatures caused the o-rings to be affected and a leak from the o-rings on the Challenger caused fuel to ignite. Millions of people and school students stared in shock at what had occurred just before their

    Read More

  • Analysis of Ronald Reagan's Sppech, The Challenger Disaster

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Challenger Disaster

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though people knew what had happened, they didn't know why it had happened. Gradually people found the answer. Here's why it happened: the rocket booster's casing was made in different sections. These sections were attached to each other and sealed together with o-rings-rubber rings. The o-rings were held in their places by the pressure of the hot gasses, which were from the rocket booster after it was ignited. On previous missions of the Challenger, the o-rings were found to be worn away by the hot gasses. The o-rings had been tested and the results had shown that the o-rings were a lot more likely to fail in cold or freezing weather. That was what happened on the cold morning of January 28, 1986.

    Read More

  • Apollo 13 Disaster In Space

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Are you focused on what you're doing and thinking during an emergency? Do you just give up if you’re stuck in a problem? In the Scholastic Scope article, “Disaster in Space,” it teaches us that in an emergency, we should remain calm and focused on the problem and to never give up, as the astronauts and engineers involved in the Apollo 13 mission did during an emergency on the spacecraft. These processes are exemplified in the Scholastic Scope article, “Disaster in Space” when it talks about how three astronauts handle an emergency that would have costed their lives. In conclusion, in the Scholastic Scope article, “Disaster in Space,” it teaches us that in an emergency, we should remain calm and focused on the problem, use our ingenuity, and never give up, as the astronauts and engineers involved in the Apollo 13 mission did during an emergency on the spacecraft.

    Read More

  • The Space Shuttle Tragedy Of The Columbia And Challenger

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    NASA has faced many tragedies during their time; but one can question if two of the tragedies were preventable by changing some critical decisions made by the organization. The investigation board looking at the decisions made for the space shuttle tragedies of the Columbia and Challenger noted that the “loss resulted as much from organizational as from technical failures” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 191). The two space shuttle tragedies were about twenty years apart, they both had technical failures but politics also played a factor in to these two tragedies.

    Read More

  • Challenger Disaster Case Study

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    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:

    Read More

  • An Inside Look at TWA Flight 800

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the flight was scheduled to depart from JFK Airport at about 7:00 p.m., it was delayed due to a disabled piece of ground equipment and concerns about a suspected passenger mismatch with baggage. The airplane took off at 8:18 p.m., shortly at 8:25 p.m., Boston air route traffic control center (ARTCC) instructed the pilots to climb and maintain an altitude of 19,000 feet and then lower down to 15,000 feet. However, at 8:26 p.m., Boston ARTCC amended TWA flight 800's altitude clearance, advising the pilots to maintain an altitude of 13,000 feet. At 8:29 p.m., the captain stated, "Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number four... see that?" One minute later Boston ARTCC advised them to climb and maintain 15,000 feet to which the pilot replied: “Climb thrust”. After an extremely loud and quick sound, the cockpit voice recorder stopped recording at 8:31 p.m. At that moment, the crew of an Eastwind Airlines Boeing 737 flying nearby reported an explosion in the sky. TWA Flight 800 aircraft had broken up and crashed into the sea, 8 miles south of East Moriches, killing all on board. (1,2)

    Read More

  • The Challenger Disaster Explained

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Chernobyl

    451 Words  | 1 Pages

    Chernobyl was the greatest nuclear disaster of the 20th century. On April 26th, 1986, one of four nuclear reactors located in the Soviet Union melted down and contaminated a vast area of Eastern Europe. The meltdown, a result of human error, lapsed safety precautions, and lack of a containment vessel, was barely contained by dropping sand and releasing huge amounts of deadly radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere. The resulting contamination killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people and devastated the environment. The affects of this accident are still being felt today and will be felt for generations to come.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis On Challenger

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the 28th of January 1986, it was supposed to be day of exploration and excitement but ended up being a day of sadness and tragedy. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States of America delivered a speech to the people of his nation to address them about an incident that occurred earlier that day. The space shuttle challenger exploded and broke apart, 73 seconds after its take-off sending the

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie Armageddon

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pete, an astronaut on the shuttle Atlantis, is speaking via satellite radio to NASA’s executive director, Dan Truman. Pete is completing maintenance on a satellite when it is struck by several small meteorites. Atlantis, Pete, and the Satellite are all destroyed by the meteorites. As Truman gives

    Read More

  • The American Shuttle Challenger

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    On January 28, 1986, the American shuttle Challenger was completely destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff, a catastrophic end to the shuttle's tenth mission. This disaster took the lives of all seven astronauts aboard. One of those astronauts was a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who was selected to go on the mission and still teach but teach to students all over the United States from space. It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed because of cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. This tragedy and the aftermath received widespread media coverage and urged NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions.

    Read More

  • Human Factors On Aloha 243

    2368 Words  | 5 Pages

    After the accident, a full-scale investigation was launched by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). It concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue exacerbated by crevice corrosion, the corrosion is exacerbated by the salt water and the age of the aircraft was already 19 years old as the plane operated in a salt water environment.

    Read More

  • Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    From the discussion during Section 2, NASA 2007 handbook has hugely developed itself comparing to 20 years ago. During 1980s, NASA did not use any system engineering approach which caused the big accident in 1986. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in midair, sending six astronauts and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe to their deaths. After NASA adopted the systems engineering approach and published the systems engineering handbook in 1995, the accident dramatically reduced, only several non-fatal incidents appeared during 1995 to 2002.

    Read More

More about Exception: The NASA Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Open Document