Challenger Disaster :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Challenger DisasterIt was on January 28, 1986 at 1138 A.M. that the shuttle Challenger, NASA flight 51-L, the twenty-fifth shuttle flight, took off. It was the t separatelyer in Space mission. At lift-off, the temperature at ground level was 36 Fahrenheit, which was 15 Fahrenheit cooler than any previous launch by NASA. It was the Challengers one-tenth flight. Take-off had been delayed several times. Finally the shuttle had taken off. The shuttle had climbed high in the sky thirty-five seconds after take-off, and it was getting hit by knock-down(prenominal) winds. The on board computers were making continuous adjustments so the shuttle would stay on course. About eight miles in the air, about seventy-two seconds after take-off, concourse watched in fear and horror as the shuttle was engulfed by a huge fire ball. All the crew members were killed instantly. Engineers and scientists began trying to find what went wrong or so right away. They studied the film of the take-off. When th ey studied the film, they noticed a small jet of shine coming from inside the casing for one of the rocket boosters. The flame got bigger and bigger. It started to touch a strut that connected the booster to the big fuel tank attached to the space shuttle. About two or tierce seconds later, hydrogen began leaking from the gigantic fuel tank. About seventy-two seconds after take-off, the hydrogen caught on fire and the booster swung around. That punctured the fuel tank, which caused a big explosion. crimson though people knew what had happened, they didnt know why it had happened. Gradually people found the answer. Heres why it happened the rocket boosters casing was made in different sections. These sections were attached to each other and sealed together with o-rings-rubber rings. The o-rings were held in their places by the pressure of the hot gasses, which were from the rocket booster after it was ignited. On previous missions of the Challenger, the o-rings were found to be p urposeless away by the hot gasses. The o-rings had been tested and the results had shown that the o-rings were a lot more likely to fail in shabby or freezing weather. That was what happened on the cold morning of January 28, 1986. The people on board the shuttle on January 28, 1986 were Lieutenant Ellison Onizuka, an Air Force Officer Commander Michael Smith, a Navy officer Christa McAuliffe, a high-school teacher in New Hampshire Dick Scobe, a Navy officer Greg Jarvis, an engineer Judy Resnik, an astronaut and Ronald McNair, an astronaut.