![]() ![]() After a final two-hour delay due to the ice and a failed fire-protection device, NASA cleared the liftoff for 11:38 a.m. Administrative delays and poor weather conditions pushed that date back to January 23, then 24, then 25, then 27, and finally, the 28. According to the original timeline, the reusable shuttle should have launched six days earlier, on January 22. The crowd, composed of friends, family, and supporters of the seven-person crew aboard Challenger, restlessly awaited takeoff. It was a frigid morning-so cold that ice pooled in sections on the launch pad and icicles hung from the launch tower. Throngs of people stood on Florida’s Cape Canaveral, shouldering the balmy air on the day of one of the greatest losses of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program: January 28, 1986. In the front row from left to right: Michael J. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judy Resnik. In the back row from left to right: Ellison S. The crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-51-L. This section of Space Safety Magazine is dedicated to the Challenger Disaster, its causes, and its consequences. A vehicle that was celebrated for its technical prowess broke up 73 seconds into the flight, burning nearly 2 million liters of fuel in just a few seconds, creating a sinister cloud of gas that still plagues the memory of anyone who saw it. Over time, NASA management had grown increasingly impatient with the technical delays that operating such a complex machine required.Īll that ended on the bitter cold morning of January 28 th 1986, when seven astronauts lost their lives in front of family, friends, and millions of TV viewers. NASA had committed the Shuttle to an impossible schedule even before it entered in service in order to ensure funding. ![]() Blinded by the success of the early Shuttle flights, the Agency’s management had developed a careless attitude towards warnings coming from the engineering community. The death of a crew of seven, which for the first time included civilian astronaut Christa McAuliffe, in a fiery explosion broadcasted in national television for days after the accident left a mark in the public imagination.Įven deeper was the impact on the NASA. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster is probably the most significant event in the history of spaceflight in terms of its impact on the general public and on the US space program. ![]()
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