Space Shuttle Challenger
I am writing about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster event on the day, also the reasons as to why the disaster happened; this disaster is
January 28th, 1986, was the coldest day that NASA had ever attempted to launch a manned spacecraft; at 2 degrees Celsius, it was colder than any previous launch temperature. Although lift-off time for the Challenger had been delayed twice that morning, all operations and systems seemed to be under control. An "ice" team had been sent to the launch pad at 1:30 a.m. and again at 8:45 a.m., and although there was some build-up, ice was cleared as a concern. The seven member crew arrived at the launch pad in the astronauts' van shortly after 8:00 and were all strapped into their seats by 8:36 a.m. 73 seconds later, millions of people across the nation watched the awful explosion spread across their television screens and realized that something had gone wrong before they heard the voice of mission control: "Obviously...a major malfunction." Rather than delivering the State of the Union address that evening as scheduled, President Ronald Reagan made a brief speech. "We'll continue our quest in space," he promised traumatized Americans. "There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space." There would be no shuttle flights for nearly three years. There would be no teacher in space, and for those left on the ground, for the families of seven deceased astronauts, there would be years of bitterness, grief and anger, and pain before their lives could finally heal. What went wrong? What actually happened to cause a veteran space shuttle such as Challenger to malfunction on its tenth run?
At 0.68 seconds after ignition, videotape showed black smoke coming from the bottom field joint of the right solid rocket booster (SRB). The SRB comes in four segments that are assembled. The bottom field joint is the lowest joint on the SRB. The black...