Author:
Something about this block of days on the calendar. Saturday, Jan. 28th, is the 31st anniversary of the mid-air destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Extra attention was being paid to this flight as it was the inaugural flight of the Teacher In Space Program. A series of interactive lessons broadcast from the shuttle by teacher/payload specialist Christa McAuliffe meant that schools across the country were watching the take-off. A subsequent lengthy investigation found systemic problems in the shuttle program resulted in "go Fever" that led to engineer's warnings about the SRB o-ring seals being affected by the weather conditions being disregarded.
Astronauts, mission and payload specialists on board Challenger were:
Francis R. Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Teacher
So pause for a moment to reflect on Saturday at 11:39AM EST (16:39 UTC).
Comments
never forget
on this day, my wife and I were going to look for garage sales and we saw this this flash of light going across the sky. later, we found out what had happened. parts of the shuttle were scattered across east texas.
robert
Wrong shuttle...
Actually RJ you're thinking about Columbia which broke up during reentry Feb 1, 2003. Challenger was destroyed Jan 28, 1986 just 73 sec after launch when the O ring on a solid fuel booster failed and ignited the main fuel tank. Interesting fluke of fate is that even though all three accidents (including Apollo I) happened years apart they also happened around the same time of year calendar wise.
I was in Ely, NV at the time
in 2003. Bits of the wreckage were scattered over the desert to the south. Roads were closed for several days. I had a take Rt50 west for over 100 miles towards Reno before I could head south to Vegas and my flight home.
Yes this a sad time of year
Yes this a sad time of year for members and friends of the space program. I can't watch the video of the Challenger launch, just as I can't watch video of the WTC on 9/11. I just start crying if I do.
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
The external fuel tank on the Challenger
did not ignite. The report on Challenger showed that flame impingement from the failed SRB field joint ruptured the external fuel tank. Detailed analysis showed pressure rupture and aerodynamic breakup, but no mid-air combustion of the contents of the external fuel tank.
There are several YouTube videos that walk through the this part of the disaster.
Two other things. Whichever engineer designed the field joint with the open end of the U pointing up, needs to turn in both their slip-stick and their engineer's qualification card.
Two: A pox on political appointee hacks that don't listen to engineers and the people that designed and built the craft when they say it's not safe to launch.
Don't forget also
Don't forget also Apollo 1 or was known as AS-204. They are finally being recognized for their tragedy with a monument. Hard to believe but true. To think it took over 50 years to be remembered.
Yes I know, poor workmanship, lowest bidder, but also remember they were the first pioneers for their craft and there was a lot of pressure on the space agency at the time and they got sloppy and rushed. Grissom famously hung a lemon inside the craft to show what the astronauts thought of the craft as well as mocking it with a prayer for the cameras.
already done
Look back to Wednesday evening. Blog titled "Apollo 1". I stuck with that title as most people don't know about the change after the fire. The idea was to recognize the crew even though they never launched. But NASA were dicks about it, said it was a training accident and didn't qualify.
An episode of The Cape (remember that show?) said/showed an area closed to the public where they (the astronauts) had erected their own monument. Grissom, White, and Chaffee were on it. But now there is the public monument and I don't know if the other, if it even existed), is still there.
The Air and Space Museum is doing special exhibit for the 50th anniversary. The hatch was pulled out of storage, refurbished without damaging the marks from the fire, and is on display. 204 is in storage at the museum warehouse and will likely stay there. Nobody thinks it would be proper to put it on display.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Remember Them All
Lets Remember them all
Apollo 1, Challenger, Columbia, and the Russian Cosmonauts who died, their families, friends and colleagues who lost there Mum, Dad, school teacher, and friends so that man can go into space and further.
"One small step for man" cost so much more than dollars and cents, pounds and pennies.
SamanthaAnn
No slight intended
I choose not to mention the Russian cosmonauts as my knowledge in that area is sadly lacking. Also, there still seems to be some discrepancy in the number of deaths that occurred. We certainly are aware of the more prominent accidents and deaths, however it seems there are some incidents that may or may not have happened in the early days of their program. As well, the scope of any training accidents that may have occurred is not known. We know about NASA's attempt to whitewash their record by calling the AS-204 fire a training accident, and NASA's program was pretty wide-open compared the the Soviets.
I remember reading of one incident said to have occurred early on in their orbital missions. The Soviets maintained that it was an unmanned test but those who made a practice of monitoring their radio transmissions reported a fairly lurid tale of the cosmonaut onboard dieing of oxygen starvation after the retrorockets failed. He was said to have used his last breath cursing the USSR and their tendency to risk lives using substandard equipment. I also saw in an article before and after photographs of the Soviet cosmonauts where one man disappeared from the group. Doctoring photographs was a time-honored trait of the USSR.
So I can only give a mass salute to those on the Russian side that lost their lives.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
I remember this one all to well!
I was vacationing with a friend in Florida at the time. We were at the space center the day before and the launch was scrubbed that day because of really cold temperatures. The temperature for the following day was forecasted to be just as cold so we thought it wasn't going to launch again and we drove to Orlando. Well we were heading to Disney on the interstate when
I turned the radio on to find out that Challenger was about to launch. So we pulled off to the shoulder of the highway and watched, much to our horror, first hand what was happening. That sad day was firmly etched into my memory. RIP Challenger Crew... Loving Hugs Talia
My Mother-in-law and Father-in-law
were on the causeway that morning. Allen (fil) turned the roll of film he'd exposed over to NASA for development. But it showed nothing more than what they already had. A sad day for everyone.
It hits home here too, My
It hits home here too, My wife grew up with Judith Resnik. RIP.
It was interesting to see the missing man fly over on the day of her memorial service.
Memorials
I've visited the Smith memorial in Beaufort, NC and the Resnick memorial on the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh.
Has anyone been to some of the others?