The Challenger Disaster

Then came the disaster that would change not only change space, but also US history. The Challenger exploded mid-flight on their way to their historic mission. What went wrong? What actually happened to cause a veteran space shuttle such as Challenger to dysfunction on its tenth run? A videotape showed black smoke coming from the bottom field joint of the right solid rocket booster (SRB). The black smoke suggested that grease, joint insulation, and rubber O-rings were being burned. The smoke continued to come from the bottom field joint facing the exterior tank in cycles of three puffs of smoke per second. The black smoke was an indication that the bottom field joint was not sealing correctly. Into flight the a flame was seen coming from the right SRB. The flame was coming from the underside of the bottom joint. As the flame increased in size, it had begun to push against the external tank due to the rushing air around the orbiter. Soon later there was a sudden chain of events that destroyed Challenger and the seven crew members on

On the morning of January 28th, 1986, Americans watched in shock and horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded only 74 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members on board including a high school teacher Christa McAuliffe. Thousands, including families of the crew and schoolchildren

The memo written by Roger Boisjoly of Morton Thiokol, Inc. regarding the Challenger explosion had a very direct approach with a condescending tone. The author does an excellent job at grabbing the reader’s attention. The subject line states “SRM O-Ring Erosion/Potential Failure Criticality”. With a subject line written in that manner, it stresses the urgency of the memo. In the first paragraph, of the memo the author states that the memo is written to address the seriousness of the current O-ring erosion problem. Again, this is stressing the urgency of the memo and states his purpose for publishing the memo. In the body of the memo, Mr. Boisjoly takes on a more condescending, non-professional tone. He makes two statements that could be taken as if he was questioning authority. First, “The mistakenly accepted position on the joint problem was to fly without fear and failure and to run a series of design evaluations which would ultimately lead to a solution or at least a significant reduction of the erosion problem”. This statement seems as if he does not respect the authority of the company leaders, and the decision they

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. President Reagan remembers those astronauts that were lost not only the day of the disaster, but also those who were lost nineteen years before. He conducts

It determined that the accident was due to a failure of rubber O-rings made by Morton-Thiokol that provided a pressure seal in the aft field joint of the shuttle's right Solid Rocket Booster. The failure of the O-rings was attributed to a design flaw, as their performance could be too easily compromised by factors that included the low temperature on the day of launch. The Commission found that O-ring resiliency is directly related to temperature and due to the low temperature at launch—36 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 degrees lower than the next coldest previous launch—it was probable the O-rings had not provided a proper

Unlike Douglass, they had a negative outcome. They sent their crew into space, along with Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher at Concord Jr. High School. NASA launched the Challenger spaceship to expand man's horizons in space exploration. 73 seconds after the Challenger was launched, it exploded into two separate pieces and swirled away into the sky, killing the crew inside. This is a lesson for the future engineers who are brought on to build spaceships for NASA.

The Challenger had carried Ride up to space two times; the robot arm, which Ride used so successfully. , had been ripped from the space shuttle and fell into the deep sea. The next day, NASA's administrator called Ride's home, asking her to be a presidential commission to investigate the accident (204). The twelve men and one woman invested in finding the answers had one-hundred and twenty days to submit their

On January 28th 1986 the space shuttle Challenger was set to be sent into space with teacher Christa McAuliffe from New Hampshire as part of its crew. It was colder than normal on that day and engineers from NASA were concerned about possible failure of the O rings of the shuttle. However, their supervisors ignored them and let the shuttle embark on schedule. As a result the challenger exploded before it even exited the atmosphere

Weather can play an enormous role in historical events that are remembered decades, and even centuries, after they happen. It can turn small events that would go unnoticed in history to events that are remembered as some of the most important in world history. Until relatively recently, when the Weather Bureau was formed in 1870, we lacked the capability to forecast the weather and prevent incidents like these (Robbins). Even though weather reporting from that moment on would become widespread across the country, it would not be enough to prevent disasters such as the Challenger disaster that rocked the country on a chilly day in 1986.

On 1st of February, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after finished a 16 days mission in space. All seven astronauts were dead because of this incident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had stopped the space shuttle program for more than two years to investigate this tragedy. In the 16 days period, the astronauts did approximately 80 experiments on different categories, for example, life science and material science [1]. An investigation later has found out that the disaster was caused by a problem on the day that took off on 16th of January.

In November of 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger launched for its voyage it broke apart in the atmosphere after 73 seconds; because the O-rings could not hold at the cold temperatures. This was an issue brought up by scientists and later

INTRODUCTION: This is Jenna Jackson reporting live from Kirksville, MO. Breaking news tragedy has struck Space Shuttle Challenger, killing all passengers, including a high school teacher.

One of the greatest tragedies in history occurred on January 8, 1986. Shortly after it was launched, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire schoolteacher chosen to be the first teacher in space (“Challenger Disaster, n.d.). The explosion was caused by a failure of the O-rings of the solid rocket boosters. The O-rings were unable to seat properly, causing the leaking of hot combustion gases, which burnt through the external fuel tank. The malfunction was not any one person’s or organization’s fault; it was caused by many factors including the decision to launch despite the cold weather, the poor communication between management levels of the National Aeronautics and

Before the Challenger disaster NASA was a company that once was never prepared to handle disaster. NASA experienced it’s first disaster in October of 1968 known as the Apollo. When the Apollo occurred NASA wasn't prepared and failed at protecting it’s company and discussing the publics concerns for the disaster. NASA at this time had no exact protocol on handling disasters and acted on impulse which contributed to NASA losing their reputation. After the Apollo disaster NASA made it best efforts to create direct protocols to follow when a disaster occurs that they later was able to use when disaster struck again in the Apollo 13 disaster of 1971. It was at this time that NASA followed the protocol they set fourth for disaster that helped them handle the crisis in a manner that would protect both the company and

Rockwell, the shuttle’s primary contractor, did not support the launch due to the possibility of ice leaving the structure and damaging the thermal shield tiles during takeoff. Their concerns were relayed to NASA, but in such a way that NASA chose to proceed with the launch [2]. Though this was eventually determined to be a non-issue in the Challenger launch, the true nature of the problems that can occur when an object strikes the shuttle during takeoff would not be learned until 2003, when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry due to damage of a heat shield tile that occurred during takeoff [2]--[3].