Challenger disaster was one of the worst accidents in the history of human space flight. On Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch. The accident happened at an altitude of 46,000 feet (14,000 meters) and at about twice the speed of sound. Momentum carried the debris to an altitude of 65,000 feet (20,000 meters) before it fell back to Earth. The crew quickly lost consciousness from air loss after the breakup. They died about three minutes later, when the cabin hit the Atlantic Ocean.
The crew consisted of Mission Commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee; pilot Michael J. Smith; mission specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Ronald E. McNair; payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis; and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Their mission was to include the launch of a communications satellite and another satellite to observe Halley’s Comet. It was the 25th launch of a shuttle and the 10th launch of Challenger.
Investigators traced the cause of the accident to a seal called an O ring. These seals sit at the bottom of the craft’s two solid rocket boosters. The faulty seal, along with strong high-altitude winds, opened a hole in one booster. A small flame emerged and damaged a part connecting the booster to the shuttle’s external fuel tank. Seconds later, the booster tore loose. The rest of the shuttle then broke apart. The failure of the seal was attributed to cold weather and to a breeze at the launch site. The breeze pushed frigid air from around the external tank—which holds extremely cold fuel—onto the side of the booster. Investigators also determined that launch officials had ignored warnings that the seals had not been tested at low temperatures.
Loading the player...Challenger disaster memorial
Engineers undertook an extensive redesign and testing of the booster seals. After that, space shuttles resumed orbital flights in September 1988.
