Space Shuttle Challenger Failure Essay

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Failure Analysis: The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

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Introduction
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was one of the biggest space flight accidents and the result of a series of engineering failures. The Shuttle disintegrated after launch on its last mission, resulting in the death of its seven crew members. [1] The disaster happened on the Challenger program’s last launch on 28 January, 1986 at launch site Kennedy LC-39B. Later analysis showed that an O-ring, a seal on the right rocket boosted failed which was the cause of the accident. This incident is studied by engineers and organisations to see how effective communications can prevent engineering failures from causing catastrophic damages and how organisational ethics can be improved. …show more content…

It first launched on 4 April, 1983, and had launched and landed eight more times before breaking apart on its last mission, STS-51-L, on 28 January, 1986. The crew of the STS-51-L mission consisted of commander Francis Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, payload specialists Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, and mission specialists Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka and Ron McNair. [2]

The morning of the launch was exceptionally cold, and warnings were sent by the engineers stating that the rubber O-ring seals were likely to fail at low temperatures. These warning were however ignored by NASA management and the launch proceeded as usual. [3] 72 seconds into the flight, an explosive burning of the hydrogen combined with liquid oxygen leaking from the fuel tank caused the shuttle to disintegrate, and Challenger broke apart 1 second later.
Most sources believe that the initial disintegration of the shuttle wasn’t the main cause of the death of the astronauts, as evidences collected from the wreckage showed that some of the astronauts may have survived when the spacecraft first broke apart. However, none of them survived the impact when the crew cabin fell into the Atlantic Ocean. The crew couldn’t have escaped the spacecraft as there wasn’t a launch escape system, all seven crew members died in the

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