Challenger Disaster Research Paper
The Challenger Disaster
Space shuttle Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on January 28, 1986. The initial shuttle launch was delayed for six days due to poor weather and technical problems. After launch, the space shuttle Challenger exploded a minute and thirteen seconds after liftoff. The last words heard by the crew was from the captain, Mike Smith stating, “Uh- oh,” (Ranker) proving that he was aware of a problem in the launch. The several astronauts were NASA's first in-flight fatalities. The spacecraft broke apart into pieces and plunged into the ocean, killing its entire crew on impact, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher.
McAuliffe was supposed to be the first Unites States civilian to travel …show more content…
Later that day, president Reagan gave a public announcement about the accident, stating, “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.” (EBSCOhost). He later appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with the Challenger developed corrective measures for other shuttles and space crafts. Due to this national tragedy and extensive media coverage, NASA decided to suspend all shuttle missions temporarily to evaluate the program for about two years. It later came to light the morning of the launch was unusually cold, engineers warned their superiors that certain mechanisms, (particularly the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. were vulnerable to fail at low temperatures. Even with these warnings, the Challenger shuttle was launched at 11:39 a.m. Flights resumed after the two-year span in September 1988 with the successful launch of space shuttle
Space shuttle Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on January 28, 1986. The initial shuttle launch was delayed for six days due to poor weather and technical problems. After launch, the space shuttle Challenger exploded a minute and thirteen seconds after liftoff. The last words heard by the crew was from the captain, Mike Smith stating, “Uh- oh,” (Ranker) proving that he was aware of a problem in the launch. The several astronauts were NASA's first in-flight fatalities. The spacecraft broke apart into pieces and plunged into the ocean, killing its entire crew on impact, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher.
McAuliffe was supposed to be the first Unites States civilian to travel …show more content…
Later that day, president Reagan gave a public announcement about the accident, stating, “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.” (EBSCOhost). He later appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with the Challenger developed corrective measures for other shuttles and space crafts. Due to this national tragedy and extensive media coverage, NASA decided to suspend all shuttle missions temporarily to evaluate the program for about two years. It later came to light the morning of the launch was unusually cold, engineers warned their superiors that certain mechanisms, (particularly the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. were vulnerable to fail at low temperatures. Even with these warnings, the Challenger shuttle was launched at 11:39 a.m. Flights resumed after the two-year span in September 1988 with the successful launch of space shuttle