Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster it

Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster

It was on the twenty eight of January, 1986 that the American space shuttle, Challenger, exploded in the air, killing the seven astronauts, five men and two women who were on board the shuttle. The shuttle had taken off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, just minutes before, and the entire episode was telecast to the nation, and thousands of people, including the victims' families, were forced to witness first hand the disaster while it was taking place. This in itself was a tragedy of immense proportions, and to add to the disaster, rescue boast could not even reach the scene of the tragedy for more than an hour, because there was falling debris from the shuttle, and the rescue personnel could not get close to it. President Ronald Reagan had this to say, "...a national loss." (1986, seven dead in space shuttle disaster) it must be remembered that the Challenger was the twenty fifth flight by that of a shuttle, and it had been delayed already due to bad weather conditions. Initially, the shuttle had been scheduled to take off on the twenty second of January, but adverse conditions like icicles and high winds prevented the shuttle from launching off on this date. (1986, seven dead in space shuttle disaster)

On the twenty eight, according to NASA officials, for whom apparently, the safety conditions are of paramount importance, there had been no real pressure to launch the shuttle on this date, but unfortunately for the people on board, this was the day that had been chosen for the Challenger to be launched, and it never did take off. The shuttle crew was led by Commander Dick Scobee, forty six years old. Christa McAuliffe, married with two children was a thirty-seven-year-old teacher, and had been chosen from among ten thousand other entrants to the competition that promised the entrants their first expedition into space. She was supposed to be the very first school teacher to be aboard a space shuttle, and there was great excitement about this event in her life. In her own words before the scheduled launch of the challenger, "One of the things I hope to bring back into the classroom is to make that connection with the students that they too are part of history, the space programme belongs to them and to try to bring them up with the space age." (1986, seven dead in space shuttle disaster)

It was the teacher Mc Auliffe's assignment, that of teaching young school children from space, that probably gave the Challenger a very special aura. This was probably the reason why the space shuttle, officially known as the 'Space Transportation System -- STS Mission 51-L', became popularly known among the people of America as the 'teacher in Space Mission'. (Vaughan, 27) This, despite the fact that this was to be a research and scientific missions, and several other members of the team to be launched into space had specific assignments to be carried out while on board the Challenger. There was a series of false starts, as mentioned earlier: the date first set was to be January 23, after which the date slipped to January 25 and then again to January 26. The efforts for the successful launch of the Challenger were carried out by an expert team of people form the Kennedy Space Center, Canaveral, Florida, and these people were coordinated by a team made up of technical coordinators and administrators belonging to NASA's four tiered launch decision chain. These were some of the people thus involved: Jesse Moore, the Associate Administrator for the Space Flight at the NASA Headquarters in Washington; Arnold Aldrich, the Program manager at the Johnson Space Center, Texas; William Lucas, the Director of the Marshall Space flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama and Stanley Reinatrz, Manager at the Shuttle Projects Office, Marshall and a few others. (Vaughan, 27)

One must remember that the space shuttle had set a precedent for unprecedented delays of launch, and none of the individuals involved wished to repeat the same mistake again. This was the reason why bad weather was indicated at Kennedy Airport, the launch on January 23 of the Challenger was put off to the next day. On January 27, the countdown was proceeding at a normal pace, and it appeared that the Challenger would take off successfully. However, at the time of the countdown, micro switch indicators showed that the exterior hatch-locking mechanism had not been fixed properly. This meant that the launch would have to be delayed in order to be able to fix the latch properly before proceeding. By the time the problem was fixed satisfactorily, the wind velocity had already exceeded the Launch Commit Criteria for allowable crosswinds at the Kennedy Center Runway being used for the launch of the Challenger. Therefore, the launch was scrubbed, and it was rescheduled for take off the next day, January 28 at 9:38 AM EST. (Vaughan, 28)

It was at around 1 PM on January 27 that the NASA personnel charged with the responsibility of the launch of the Challenger started to get worried about the prevailing cold weather conditions. This sort of weather for this time of year in Florida was rare and uncharacteristic, and furthermore, extremely cold weather conditions were predicted for the next day, the launch of the day. Marshall's Larry Wear subsequently asked the manufacturers of the Solid Rocket Motor to check whether the cold weather would in any way affect or impact the performance of the Solid Rocket Motor of the Challenger. Robert Ebeling, the Ignition System manager of Thiokol, the company that manufactured the Rocket Motor, immediately called for a meeting at the Utah plant, where the concerns for the safe launch of the space shuttle in such adverse weather conditions were expressed and discussed. It was decided by those present at the conference that the launch of the Challenger must be delayed until noon of the next day, as against the scheduled launching time of 9:38 AM. (Vaughan, 28)

However, apparently, none of these warning were taken seriously, and the Challenger was launched at the scheduled time and the scheduled date, on the 28 of January at 9:38 AM. What happened next would go down in history as one of the many failures of human kind to launch a space shuttle successfully into space without any mishaps of any kind. (Vaughan, 28) "The Space Shuttle Challenger happened to explode in a ball of fire shortly after it left the launching pad and all seven astronauts on board were lost," so said the headlines of newspapers the next day. (Baura, 63) it would help to remember that the very first time the idea of a space shuttle was floated was some time during the 1960's, much before the Apollo Lunar Landing Spacecraft had been launched. (Baura, 63)

The Challenger disaster has been described, through the years, as the 'collective product of the interaction between a government agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, and a private business corporation, Morton Thiokol, Inc., or MTI. Thus, the space shuttle tragedy falls into the special category of organizational misconduct that Kramer and Michalowski have identified as 'state-corporate crime'. In other words, the Challenger tragedy has been described as a crime committed by a nexus formed by a group of people for whom the launch would have brought in great benefits, had it been carried out successfully. The loss of the Challenger resulted in a loss in profits for the people, and most importantly, resulted in the loss of seven precious lives, whose families were deprived of their husbands and wives and children, of their mothers and fathers. The launch of the Challenger brought about a great tragedy indeed. (Schlegel, Kip; Weisburd, 214)

The Challenger had in fact been involved in nine greatly successful missions before that particular fateful day in January 1986. As a matter of fact, the Shuttle mission 51-L was much the same as all the other missions that had been carried out to date, and this time, the Challenger had been scheduled to carry some cargo, the Tracking Data Relay Satellite-2, or the TDRS-2, and also to fly the Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy, or what is also known as the SPARTAN-203, the Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable, which is described as a free-flying module that has been specifically designed to observe the tail and the coma of Halley's comet with the help of two ultraviolet spectrometers and two cameras. However, what made this particular space shuttle launch different and unique was that this time, it would carry a teacher on board. This was why the launch became popularly known as the 'Teacher in Space Program'. The teacher, Christa Mc Auliffe, had said with great enthusiasm about the space program of her country, "I watched the Space Age being born and I would like to participate," with the primary aim of tarrying to teach her children from space. (Challenger Disaster, a National Tragedy)

However, the space shuttle had been plagued with a number of problems right from the outset, as mentioned earlier. There was one thing or the other to delay the launch of the Challenger, until the D-Day, when the shuttle was launched at 11:38 AM as against the scheduled take off time of 9:38 AM on January 28. About seventy three seconds into the mission, the Challenger exploded in mid air, and all the seven crew members were killed instantaneously. For the hundreds of people, the family and friends and others who had gathered at the site to watch the launching of the Challenger, it was a sight that they would never be able to forget. They were forced to watch helplessly and fearfully, as the fiery flames consumed their loved ones. The entire nation, which was watching events as they unfolded on their television sets, was rendered speechless. (Challenger Disaster, a National Tragedy)

Ronald Reagan, the President of the United States of America at the time, stated, "Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core over the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss. Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this. and, perhaps, we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But the Challenger Seven were aware of the dangers and overcame them and did their job brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes." (Challenger Disaster, a National Tragedy) This was a touching speech of the President of America that summed up his feelings, and also the feelings of the entire nation. (Challenger Disaster, a National Tragedy)

President Reagan, however, did not stop at this. He immediately appointed a team of people, who would be responsible for investigating the causes of the disaster of the Challenger, and to analyze whether it could have been prevented in any way at all. Incidentally, the team included former secretary of state William Rogers, former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager. Upon detailed investigations and examinations, the team was able to determine to a certain level, that the cause of the mishap was that the 'O-Ring' had failed. The O-Ring was a seal in the solid-fuel rocket fixed on the right side of the Challenger, and perhaps the seal had a faulty design. When this faulty design was combined with the adverse weather conditions, as mentioned above, it eventually allowed hot gases to leak in through the joint that was not sealed properly. This resulted in booster rocket flames being able to pass through the space that had been left unsealed, and this served to grossly enlarge the small hole. (Challenger Disaster, a National Tragedy)

The flames that had thus entered managed to burn through the external fuel tank of the Challenger, and also through one of the supports that had been serving the purpose of attaching the booster to the side of the fuel tank. Soon enough, the booster had broken loose, and fallen through, thereby colliding with the fuel tank. This managed to penetrate the side of the fuel tank, and this resulted in liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels mixing with each other. This caused the Space Shuttle Challenger to tear apart and burst into flames. What made this tragedy even worse was the important fact that apart form the faulty design that had caused the O-Ring to fail to seal properly, the fault could be laid squarely on the NASA officials, who had been warned by NASA engineers of the chances of such a thing happening well in advance. (Challenger Disaster, a National Tragedy)

As the NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin put it on the tenth anniversary of the disaster of the space mission Challenger, one of the best ways in which one can honor the memories of the men and the women who so bravely went ahead on a space mission so that they would be able to teach the world something, and who had to give up their very lives in the pursuit of such learning, would be to "continue their bold tradition of exploration and innovation," at least as far as the exploration of space is concerned. (Administrator Goldin issues statement on Tenth Anniversary of Challenger Observance) This is exactly what, stated the Administrator, NASA even today endeavors to achieve. NASA's mission is to try to push and widen considerably the boundaries of knowledge so that life upon Earth would be better off for the citizens of the world. This would ensure that people have a better life tomorrow, and that discoveries made by launching space shuttles like the Challenger, for example, would help in the pursuit of security for people. he further went on to say that as a part of the great space effort that NASA was conducting, he was aware that safety must remain, and has always remained one of the prime concerns of NASA, and that NASA had always made sure that safety would never be relegated to second place. However, at the same time, stated Goldin, "...But human beings have always taken great risks to reap great rewards. Space flight is inherently dangerous and every member of the NASA team understands those risks" (Administrator Goldin issues statement on Tenth Anniversary of Challenger Observance)

James Oberg, the NBC News Space Analyst spoke to MSNBC recently about the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. In a touching treatise, he said that the families and friends of those on board the Challenger had been stunned beyond belief when the space shuttle went up in flames a mere seventy seconds after it had been launched. Immediately afterwards, the families had to bear the news that it was in actuality a small faulty and malfunctioning piece of equipment that had caused this monumental tragedy that left seven astronauts dead, the O-ring, as mentioned earlier. The families were left further horrified at the truth that the NASA had chosen this type of faulty design so that they would be able to better please the politicians who were involved in an unholy nexus, and who had demanded that the space shuttle be launched despite proof and evidence of bad weather conditions, which would most probably result in disaster. Another major factor that must be considered in the entire debacle, said James Oberg, was that the NASA engineers had been forced to use a lower quality sealant for the space shuttle Challenger due to environmental reasons. (7 myths about the Challenger Shuttle Disaster)

Eventually, the NASA consoled itself by issuing several statements that it was 'unsafe' and inherently dangerous for a human being to cross frontiers, and to venture into uncharted territories, in this case, the lunch into space. This danger was an accepted risk by all the participants of any space shuttle program, and all the participants were aware of the fact, NASA had said. Therefore, such a disaster and tragedy was to be expected, and there was no surprise in it, although it was indeed a tragedy. Although this is the story that has been repeated endlessly by the media and others through time, James Oberg states that according to space flight historians, the disaster of the Challenger Space Shuttle has been shrouded in myth and mystery, and nobody has been able to come forward with the real and actual truth of what actually caused such a disaster. Almost all the statements issued by the press has been found to be inaccurate, and it is time that one dispelled these myths and finally faced the truth of what actually went wrong with the Space Shuttle Challenger that it burst into flames mere seconds after it was launched, thus killing all the seven members on board. (7 myths about the Challenger Shuttle Disaster)

The issue today is this: will such a disaster happen again? Can the NASA give a guarantee that such tragedies will not take place again? Can such guarantees be given, as a matter of fact? Will the space exploration endeavors taking place today go on unhindered into the future? Would the risks be mitigated, or would there be added risks to the crew on board the space shuttles, who risk all in order to enter the shuttles, in the only hope that they would be able to share their learning experiences aboard the shuttles, with the other people on earth. When the Challenger disaster took place, seventy two seconds after it was launched, there had been doubts about the safety of the launch, and of the seven crew members, men and women. Although the accident can be described in starkly real terms, as the result of a half billion gallons of liquid fuel vaporizing, this was a great disaster for those involved directly in the launch. Although nobody was really aware of what had really happened when the Challenger burst into flames, two men who were watching the tragic events unfold on the television screens in far away Utah knew exactly what was happening. These men were Roger Boisjoly, a senior engineer at Morton-Thiokol, the contractors that built the solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle, and the other was his manager, Bob Ebeling. (Hayhurst, 6)