Space Shuttle Challenger Accident Investigation (1986) NASA Documentary
About | Information | History | Online | Facts | Discovery
NASA documentary detailing the events surrounding the loss of OV-099, Space Shuttle Challenger, shortly after the launch of the 25th flight of the Space Transportation System, Mission STS-51L, on 28 January, 1986, and the subsequent investigation into the loss of the vehicle and its crew of seven. The investigation shows that the Solid Rocket Booster field joints were of an insufficiently fault-tolerant design and when the vehicle was launched at below-normal temperatures, hot exhaust gasses leaked on ignition, damaging the integrity of the field joint, leading to a breach in the external tank and destruction of the orbiter. Production Company: Photo and TV Analysis Team Sponsor: NASA /STS-51L Data and Design Analysis Task Force Credits: NASA
Comments
-
This video is pretty good.
-
I remember this i was 7 years old when it happened
-
I have very strong and painful memories of that morning. I was working for an aerospace company called The Marquardt Company in Van Nuys, California. The Marquardt Company specialized in smaller rocket engines such as those that would be used on satellites. Every space shuttle had 44 of Marquardt's engines on it. These were the engines that were used to maneuver in space. I was the project coordinator for the shuttle program at Marquardt and as such it was my responsibility to keep the project on schedule and moving across production floors, clean rooms and testing facilities where this project was always competing for machine time and such with other contracts/projects the company had. Rocketdyne made the 3 large engines at the rear of the shuttle and of course Morton Thikol made the two boosters. You could easily see these engines but Marquardt's engines were mostly born from view. All of those holes on the nose of the shuttle were exhaust ports for the 14 primary and 2 vernier thrusters that were housed in the forward RCS module. There were then 2 aft RCS module pods that housed 12 primary and 2 vernier thrusters each. These pods were mounted on the rear of the shuttle above the bottom 2 main engines and to the left and right of the single top main engine. Because all of these engines had to be replaced with new engines before each new mission, Marquardt's engines were grouped into modular pods and it was simply the pods themselves that were easily removed and replaced between missions. With this many engines on each shuttle, Marquardt obviously had a vested interest in every shuttle mission and large television's would be rolled out to the production floors so that the employees could watch and participate in the final fruits of their labor. It was the main production floor of building 3 where I found myself on that January morning in front of a couple of large television's with a large gathering of employees that included the president of the company and most of his senior staff. Even though the engines that we manufactured were never operational until the shuttle was in space, when the shuttle broke apart in that fiery explosion everyone watching the launch on that production floor turned and looked at me. I knew or engines were not yet operational at that point of the mission but the zoomed in and slow motion playback of the launch that the T.V. networks very quickly started airing over and over again very clearly showed the left aft RCS pod suddenly making a shift upwards and out to the side of the vehicle and then the shuttle was consumed by the large explosion. I now know that that movement was the initial forces of the explosion ripping the module from its mounts and the high speed camera was able to catch that right before the flames and smoke of the explosion was all you could see. We did not know that at the time the shuttle broke apart though and I have never felt such a feeling of dread take over my body like it did that morning. It felt as if a 100 pound weight had slammed into my stomach and I still don't remember walking back to my office. I must have sat there staring at the walls for a few hours before I snapped myself back to reality. By that evening it was becoming clear that the booster engines were the culprit but I will never forget that feeling that enveloped me as I watched one of my aft RCS modules obviously tearing free of its mounts.
-
Does anyone on earth have the unaltered television footage of the explosion? That darker, grainier side view at the moment of explosion was cut in later on during that day. The original scene of the disaster was one continuous shot.
-
very nasty so sad mosty for them but and for nasa
-
I'm 40 and I was 10 years old when this happened. The other day two coworkers, one 25 and the other as old as 30, asked me if I remember the Challenger explosion. I was like ofcourse, it was a big part of my childhood. The question....made me feel VERY OLD. There are now grown adults aged 30, that have no memory of the Challenger explosion.
-
I remember when my teacher told my class the space shuttle exploded, I was 10 and I thought the shuttle exploded in outer space. It was later that I learned it exploded on takeoff.
-
Today, 30 years ago, 7 brave men and women stepped forward and gave their lives in the service to our country and to humanity through space exploration-STS-51L Challenger and her crew, RIP 01/28/1986-may their sacrifice never be forgotten, and their devotion to duty, country and their world will always live on in our hearts and memories-and to inspire those to continue to reach for the stars-theirs was a mission worth taking RIP Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Judith Resnick, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Ellison Onizuka, and Ronald McNair-we will never forget you our brave astronauts on this sad day-30 years later
-
I remember watching this in school. We were all gathered in the big hall to watch this live. All the teachers had been telling us for weeks how great and smart Nasa was. Us English kids were in awe at the amazing science involved, the whole thing was amazing and exciting. Then it blew up. I've never trusted teachers or Nasa ever since. Nasa still haven't explained why they killed them. For us kids it was a case of NASA = Need Another Seven Astronauts. All was forgotten a week later. And Nasa are still lying lol. God bless America, but not Americans.
-
HOAX! Filmed in Hollywood- and it looks real, unbeliveable
-
what was the target?,take patterns from the moon??,nah,it was to improve that there's no god,they wanted to challenge allah and our holy book talked about it
http://quran.com/55/33 -
The space shuttle was always deemed an "experimental aircraft"....Therefore, there was always a risk, and those that travelled aboard had to accept the potential dangers... NASA has had only a few disasters that cost lives, amidst hundreds of successful missions throughout its history...
-
its amazing they didn't blow up on every flight. this beast is so much more dangerous than the old Apollo rockets.
-
Sad very sad
-
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Booster ignition and liftoff tower clear
44m 45sLenght
114Rating