This video follows the pre-launch and launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger preceding the accident. It then details the accident investigation report.
My wife and I work at the airport, and as we were about to leave, I was watching the launch when it exploded. I exclaimed "the shuttle just exploded" and we both stood in absolute disbelief. God rest their souls ... 😢 🙏
It sounds like you have a better understanding of a shuttle explosion than eternity. Just because you die, or die in a violent manner, has no bearing on the overused falsity...RIP. Does everyone just go to heaven? Not really. The reality is Jesus said FEW will enter heaven by the narrow road and the wide road that most people will take leads to eternal destruction. The Bible says examine yourself to see if you are indeed saved. I suggest you begin there.
@LJ-gn2un, I remember actually being in Elementary school watching it live. It was an especially important mission of course because of the "Payload Specialist - Christa McAuliffe" who was also a Teacher. In my classroom there were some kids quietly crying, back then female Teachers were numerous and many were like "Moms" to us. They had turned off the TV's and the Principal had informed students that if they needed them, the Counselors and himself were available to talk. After a little while our Teacher turned the lights back on and began to get us back to our subject. It was a very sad time and eventually after learning more about what happened, I had become disgusted with "management" which ultimately is what led to this disaster after some Engineers warned of this outcome if they tried to fly under those conditions. There were huge icicles 6 foot long & longer on the launchpad/equipment early that morning and though it began to melt it was still much colder than previous launches at just a few degrees above freezing. The launch had been delayed several times already but that was no reason to put lives at risk "for the cameras."
That vehicle never should never have left the drawing board. NASA: “Let’s have a space vehicle with no astronaut escape system for SEVEN astronauts. What could possibly go wrong?
I just can’t imagine how traumatized Christine’s students were after this… for one she seemed like a very beloved teacher, kind, ambitious, giving…. And then for most of them to probably have seen this live….. Omg
🙏🙏Blessings forever GOD loves y'all too forever tell everyone you know and don't know. Jesus loves y'all too forever. Teach everyone how to see and enjoy their blessings too forever
🙏🙏Blessings forever GOD loves y'all too forever tell everyone you know and don't know. Jesus loves y'all too forever. Teach everyone how to see and enjoy their blessings too forever
I was in 5th grade on the class of a Mrs. Hill. We, along with other classes had a TV cart wheeled in so we could watch this. As kids, we didnt really understand what we had witnessed, but there was a palpable sense of dread. I remember Mrs Hill gasping and then doing her best to compose herself for our sake. I remember a girl in my class whom I remember but will not name say "its not supposed to do that, is it?" I think all of us were hoping that we were all seeing something that would turn out to be nothing out of the ordinary and everthing was going to be fine. Its surreal how your mind can burn moments of trauma into your memory that never seem to fade after many decades. What a sad, somber, and world changing tragedy this was. I remember on the evening news that night, the anchor mentioned that the Soviet Government played one hour of American music on Soviet radio as a sign of respect and shared sorrow.
@michael7v6 and there was no going home for the rest of the day. We went right back to our schoolwork and had to just push it down... and people wonder why Generation X is so nihilistic...
А я учился в 8-м классе. Помню этот запуск и эту ужасную аварию. Космос - это всегда опасно. Соболезнование всем родственникам пострадавших в той катастрофе.
I was in freshman Algebra class watching this happen real time. My teacher had gone to college with Christa and had remained friends with her over the years. When it happened, my teacher screamed and passed out. When she came to , she thought it was a dream and unfortunately, we had to tell her that it wasn’t. She began crying and we, as a class gave her a group hug as best we could. It had to be horrible watching a good friend die like that. God rest their souls
🙏🙏Blessings forever GOD loves y'all too forever tell everyone you know and don't know. Jesus loves y'all too forever. Teach everyone how to see and enjoy their blessings too forever
Was home from school that morning, was watching it with my mom. She was a huge space fan. The folks on the radio sound so calm and controlled even after they just witnessed the disaster. I can only imagine what was going through their minds at the time.
Me too. I mean, I still cry. (I saw it on TV in Minnesota.) This was one of those moments when a current event became a personal tragedy for everyone. I was an Apollo kid, and like a lot of us, I grew up thinking our space program was the pinnacle of engineering perfection. I was obsessed with space flight. This disaster tore away that childish piece of me. I first learned about it from someone at work who was laughing about it. I wanted to beat him mercilessly. He was a customer, so I couldn't. (My values were different then.) Here's an unexpected part of the emotional impact I felt: I had never cried at a presidential speech about anything, and, sorry to say, I hated Reagan in those days, but his his speech about them slipping the surly bonds of Earth and touching the face of God really helped me heal. He perfectly expressed what I was feeling. His speech was cathartic, and I cried all the way through it. I felt like I was at my best friend's funeral, and the whole world was in attendance. I felt like I was one of Christa McAuliffe's students. It felt ok to be as sad as I was. It was such a powerfully emotional disaster, and I decided that day that Reagan really wasn't so bad. I felt my president was human, and I needed to hear that from him. No matter what else he did after that day (even Iran-Contra), I could never hate him. I could never again see him as the bad guy, or in any black or white terms. I still think that's a weird way to learn that aspect of maturity, from a president I didn't like and his response to a tragedy that devastated me. I hope I will always take life's lessons as they come. Sorry - this is far more than a reply to your old comment, but my eyes are all watery, and I suddenly had a lot to say. If you're still reading all this, thank you! I think there are an awful lot of us who get all teary-eyed about this tragedy.
Thank you for sharing your memories Joseph. I can't even imagine how must have been to witness this first hand. It's interesting how tragedies like these bring people together, we are all sons and daughters of this Pale Blue Dot. Take care everyone. Per Aspera Ad Astra
Those technicians helping them put the helmet/suits minutes before launching . I bet they were shocked 😢 when minutes after it exploded. The crazy feeling when you just saw someone and minutes after they are gone is beyond shocking.
I’m pretty sure they don’t get in Just Minutes before launch, it’s usually a couple hours at the longest- to get the rocket ready for the last pre flight checks.
Despite initial appearances, Challenger never exploded. The jet of flame escaping from the joint on the right SRB, due to the failed o-rings, cut through the lower SRB to External Tank mount. This caused the right SRB to swing into the external tank, causing the latter to collapse - its fuel, no longer contained in the tank, igniting into a fireball nowhere near hot enough to compete with the temperatures the orbiter faces on re-entry. Rather, it was the violent forces placed on orbiter from the right SRB changing direction and the collapse of the extertal fuel tank, that caused it to rip apart, leaving the most structurally reinforced part of the orbiter - the crew cabin, to fall back to earth - intact. Challenger's crew was still alive until the moment the crew cabin hit the Atlantic ocean.
I remember this so well. I was at work and one of our customers called and said the Shuttle just blew up. That’s all that was on TV for months. God rest the crew of Challenger.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I remember well too. Also at work, waiting near the customer service waiting area tv for parts pickup. Loved watching all the launches, just happened to be back in the dealership st that moment. That flaring burn from what turned out to be the o ring looked out of place, I didn’t feel right watching it, only had the seconds it was on screen to say “that doesn’t look...” and it blew apart before I said “good”... Stunned and silent like seeing a mortal car accident just happen, don’t remember if there was a customer sitting there, if they were i can’t imagine how conflicted they felt from what i sai out loud. One of those “omg i shouldn’t have said” moments, but more horrible
@@steveschu the flame escaping from the failed o ring has been the excuse for years now. The flame visible on the cut away shot viewing the shuttles port side was a common angle on other launches, is immediately obviously not “normal” nor does the flame motion there look normal. “The flaring burn FROM... “ I wrote.. read it again
I remember it very clearly. I was watching it on a small tv in the kitchen. My parents were out. I saw the SRB's separate early and unusual and thought that was wrong. Then I waited for the shuttle to appear out of the smoke. It never did. When my parents came home, I told them the shuttle blew up. Those memories will never go away!
Всем покорителям космоса большое уважение. И всем погибшим царствие небесное. Это смелые люди. Помню как переживал вместе со всем миром, когда взорвался Челленджер. Мне было 10 лет.
Момент взрыва показали в программе Время. Мне было 12лет. Уже позже был вопрос : если челнок выдерживает температуру разогрева от трения о воздух на скорости ~28000 км/ч, то почему он моментально исчез при воспламенении топлива в баке? Или с воспламенением топлива взрыв был и внутри челнока?
Was at work. United Technologies CSD which provided the IUS rocket stage for the TDRS payload onboard that day. Weeks before some of the crew came to visit. I remember shaking Judy Resnick's hand. She was so tiny.
🙏🙏Blessings forever GOD loves y'all too forever tell everyone you know and don't know. Jesus loves y'all too forever. Teach everyone how to see and enjoy their blessings too forever😊
The one thing I never liked about the shuttle was the inability to escape a catastrophe prior to the SRB separation. At least with Apollo, they had the escape tower.
The shuttle had an abort mechanism and escape maneuver capable of separating the shuttle from the external fuel tank. However, with the Challenger disaster, the crew and Mission Control didn’t really have any indication there was a problem until the external fuel tank exploded. Which was why the system was never activated.
the shuttle abort modes are useless if something happens to the actual shuttle itself, like a wing being damaged. and mission control DID know about the problem, infact this entire disaster would have been prevented if nasa actually LISTENED TO ITS ENGINEERS@@vaopr1012
I remember watching the first shuttle launch, and I always watched anytime after that. I lived in Orlando for awhile in early 80’s and love the shuttle breaking the sound barrier coming home.
I am still in tears every time I see this. All that time ago, you wouldn't think it would get me but it does. Be one thing it if it was one of those "How the hell did that happen" things, but I can't imagine how the people who begged them NOT to launch felt, knowing they were ignored and they launched it anyway.
I was in 6th grade watching this live with my teacher and classmates. It was the first time I ever saw a man cry since this brought my teacher to tears. My class, along with the 5th and 4th grade class was sent outside to the playground for a while so the teachers could come up with what you say and how to discuss things with us.
I agree. Allot of people think it exploded, no, it broke apart, and the astronauts had backup air supplies on so they were likely alive till they hit the water
@@Surrenitie yup it came apart like dropping a Lego set but actually their crew cabin didn't loose the air pressure they were very unlucky to know their fate
@@janefeeney373 The Shuttle only had ejection seats for the first few flights, and it wasn't till this event that it became standard procedure to (correct me if i'm wrong) bail out the side hatch
@@Surrenitie doubt you could bail out at over 200 mph. Or survive being ejected. They needed to slow down before attempting anything. It’s so horribly tragic.
@@jul30ie they actually made this special curved pole that you attached to the side, and you'd bail out and ride along the curved pole to give you enough room to clear the wing. Crazy stuff
I was there when this happened. I was 6 at the time. I didn't understand what happened but when I saw my dad & sister cry, I knew something was wrong. It sucks that the patience of Larry Malloy pressuring the Morton Thiokol management to get the launch was a huge factor in this tragedy.
Agreed, search for videos by Roger Boisjoly & Allan J McDonald regarding the Challenger tragedy. They both offer information that will curl your hair. So sad, so avoidable. These two men, both gone are Hero’s of the highest level. Also information on the Columbia tragedy. It still makes my blood boil.
@@jimwiskus8862 Makes my blood boil that Boisjoly and McDonald paid a steep price for telling the truth about what they knew. I think it was Reagans chief of staff that forced the launch.
I saw an interview with Larry Malloy from late in his life in which he said that he did the right thing and would do the exact same thing if he had to do it over again. He views the astronauts as expendable, their lives simply the cost of efficient space travel - no different than the dollars spent by NASA. He is, in a word, a sociopath.
I wish there was audio from mission control before the launch. You can hear Gene Thomas and others talking to the crew as they prepare for liftoff. The only time we see it was on that documentary, "Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes."
@@godandpatriotsdream Exactement. J’avais 11 ans quand ce dramatique accident a eu lieu. J’étais fan de Jean Michel Jarre à cette époque. Il devait faire un concert à Huston et effectivement jouer en duplex terre/espace avec Ron Mc Nair. Lors du spectacle il a joué ce morceau en rendant hommage à tout l’équipage. Aujourd’hui Netflix diffuse « le dernier vol de Challenger ». Je le regarde en boucle. Ainsi j’ai l’impression que ces 7 astronautes sont encore parmi nous
I was 5 when this happened. I got home from school to see my mom crying historically, I unknowing what happened, she grabbed me and held me so tight I couldn't breathe. I was very scared. It wasn't until watching the continued video loops of the takeoff and explosion on news that I began to understand and get emotional. To this day, little things remind me of that day and my eyes well up with tears. This tragedy was a defining point for our family. My father was a lead engineer on B1B-Lancer program with Rockwell International. After this, Rockwell was awarded the contract for the shuttle (orbiter) build out and maintenance program. He was brought onto the program as one of the main electrical plumbing engineers and worked on every shuttle. I grew up seeing much of the shuttles, pictures from inside lined our hallway walls, him shaking hands with crew members inside (full white suits and booties) while they were touring and inspecting. I was even at the roll-out of Endeavor. The loss of Colombia later was hard on everyone. It is with great responsibility and dedication that each and everyone working on the shuttle program had for the safety of the life the shuttle carried... I witnessed the impact on emotional health this had on my father years to come and to this day.
I feel the need to get this out also. Something I have not see discussed is how much of the men and women, either astronauts, or support crew and engineers, probably did and continue to have emotional and psychological impacts from these disasters that, because of the stigma of needing help with mental health during those years, went untreated. In what I saw first-hand is they found other unhealthy means to release (self harm, alcoholism, agression).
I was in the Army at Ft.Leonard Wood, Mo. that day, heard about the explosion on the service truck radio. I also seen on the news that morning that the launch site in Florida was frozen that morning, had ice sickles everywhere. Some of the experts did say the launch should've been postponed that very morning.
I just can't imagine being the ones that had to deal with them one on one helping them suit up. The people going out to the site in the mini van. Such a heart breaking day for sure 💔.
What’s so tragic is the manager in charge of the O rings was literally overruled and sent home when he argued that the vehicle would explode if launched and no one was held accountable. I was one of the children sitting in a classroom that watched all those people die that cold January morning so NASA wouldn’t be embarrassed and possibly loose funding if they delayed the launch again!
@@virgilhilts3924 aerodynamic breakup? Are you an idiot! The O ring failed because it was to cold and not pliable! Which was clearly written in the acceptable operating temperatures. You think using fancy words makes your comment any less idiotic? It doesn’t NASA don’t want to be embarrassed again by just waiting on the weather. Kind of ironic for a room full of pilots and went ahead with a flight with fingers crossed and people died! But if it makes you feel better to say they had a aerodynamic breakout? America is a freedom of speech country no matter how stupid the comments are
This is sad in every sense. When humans put money and politics before other human lives then, it shows just how evil some people are! RIP Challenger crew from us here in 🏴
Money is always put before human lives, especially in the transportation industry.. it was nasa, but it was still a transportation business for military satellite hardware.. if the ship has a schedule, then it’s gotta go.
The issue was that management decided they knew better about the rocket then the engineers, so they forced the teams to launch STS-51L in far too cold weather. This tragedy could have been avoided if they delayed it even a month or so. No one wanted anyone to get hurt, just pour management decisions...
Money and greed comes before the life of every living thing on planet Earth. That is why species are being wiped out at an alarming rate. At lease 1 every 15 seconds. And that is just in the Amazon.
I was a junior in high school when this happened, at home sick with the flu. The network news cut in and a few minutes later my mother called from work. I still remember right where I was that day. So sad.
I remember this day as if it were yesterday. It’s truly saddening for families of the Astronauts but engineers who knew The frigid temps at KSC was a disaster in the making. Yet again in 2003 NASA didn’t think foam coming of external fuel tank striking the orbiter at supersonic speeds was worth checking left wing. Both accidents were preventable with minor delays. R.I.P to all those lost aboard Challenger and Columbia!
With Columbia it would have been a LONG delay because if NASA wanted to do something to repair the shuttle it might have force them to send another shuttle to either make repairs or get the team.
@@Capri_00 He's talking about avoiding accident in the first place, not trying to bring them back from orbit alive. Coming off pieces of insulation and ice, as well hitting and damage to orbiter were well known to anyone at NASA. This was expeienced on most of the STS flights and was a regular occurrence. Even an idiot would knew it would be a matter of time serious/fatal damage will happen. But NASA hoped it will be fine, because "it happened before and everything looked all right".
@@override7486 keeping an entire crew in space longer than expected is dangerous. Either way, these horrible accidents and lives lost only pave the way for future generations and new discoveries.
And Apollo 1. Everyone didn't think 100 % oxygen at 15 PSI and a spark would be dangerous. It was done that way from the start of the Mercury program through the end of the Gemini Program
I was living in the USSR then. It was small, but I remember that day. My parents were shocked by this disaster. Many in our country have grieved with you. This is a terrible tragedy.
It's infuriating to see the photos of the frozen-over equipment (such as that at 18:50) and realize this was completely ignored in the rush to launch. Those images should have caused any reasonable person or persons to understand that the flight should be delayed IMO.
@@zachthomas7810 it was though. The SRB engineers said the temp was too low to launch and it was dangerous. The management went over their heads and you see the result.
It pisses me off too, you see all that ice and it’s like, why the fuck did you think this is safe?! The shuttles were delicate birds, just look at Columbia, wet foam killed 7 people! Yeah yeah, I know, high speed + wet and heavy foam was like a grenade to the wing, that just proves how shuttles were very delicate and being covered in ice is a BAD thing. Would you take your... laptop outside, spray it with a little water on a cold night, let it freeze then thaw it out? No, it’d probably be dead when you try and turn it on! I don’t see how anyone can argue that a little ice the night before isn’t bad when the Challenger completely shit the bed after it froze over the night before! NASA completely fucked themselves with Challenger.... I was a little kid in my classroom and our teacher brought in the TV (again and again... remember, the launches kept getting scrubbed for what felt like 100 times) so we could watch the Challenger launch a teacher into space but what we did witness was the highly publicized and beloved cute darling little teacher BLOW UP right before our eyes! Smooth move NASA.... if you wanted to make an impression on us kids then... mission accomplished?
It's interesting to note that in the time after this video was made, it was determined that it was not a faulty design that caused the accident, but faulty management at NASA.
it wasn't a faulty design, but it wasn't the best design. Early versions of the Space Shuttle concept had a better plan for the booster rockets, but NASA opted for the SRBs which were segmented together using the o-ring seals, which failed on the Challenger due to the cold weather that day kepting them from seating properly and sealing the joints.
@42:45 It appears NASA isn't aware of the known geometrical shape Isosceles Trapezoid. Putting the audio from two takes in certain places also makes humanity glad we have SpaceX now.
I saw this live from a place in Argentina called "Balcarce", it was the end of a summer vacation, I was 11 years old, I still remember it as if it were today, it was something terrible.
Quel moment triste que de voir la destruction en direct !😢 Il est vrai que pour l'amélioration des systèmes il faut parfois et malheureusement des moments comme celui ci ! Cette incident à provoquer des améliorations et des changements incroyable, merci a c'est héros pour leurs don de vie qui a permis aux spécialistes de perfectionnés les différentes composantes. " merci de nous partager c'est images ". 👍🏼🎸🤟🏼
I was a first grader, we watched it live in our class with several other classes joining us. I think I realized what had happened before my teacher could process it. She was in shock.
and why else recalling going to Orlando opening of WDW EPCOT to get to the Kennedy Space Center And seeing the ORANGE BOOSTER OUT THERE IN THE WINTER TRULY PRAYED before this
Probably for the first time since Harrow and Wealdstone did we mourn for the machine as well as the crew. RIP to the brave seven who went up but tragically never came back down.
@@bobbank74 Yes, it’s a totally obscure reference (no idea why the OP made the link) but there was the worse peacetime train crash in Britain on 8th October 1952. I know this random fact as my father in law was a lad back then and visited the scene of the accident after it had happened.
@@bobbank74so what happened was, a passenger train being pulled by a Fowler 2-6-4T was at Harrow and Wealdstone. It was 17 minutes late due to fog, Meanwhile the Perth to Euston night express being pulled by City of Glasgow was running late also due to fog. And coming from another direction is a double header express being pulled by Windward Island and the Turbomotive (then Princess Anne), City of Glasgow then crashes into the rear of the stopped train at Harrow, causing the 3 wooden carriages at the end of the train to telescope into one another. Then the express train trips over the already terrible collision wreck, and ads further insult to injury. Though we did get Duke of Gloucester out of it. It’s still sad to think about how many people were killed in that terrible accident.
So many mid 80s school kids saw this happen live. I was 12 when it happened and our whole school was in the cafe watching it during school. Id have to imagine all the runner up teachers were not so upset they lost. Sucks to ever have a tragedy..
A HS English teacher in my school in NH was a runner up. When Mr Brown watched with all of us the launch He turned white as a ghost Left the room, and was never the same afterwards. Especially when you look back Wondering all the time......... WHAT IF?
I witnessed this in real time on a small B&W Television on my desk at work. 8 seconds after the explosion I knew what everyone on earth feared. No matter how advanced we become, mortal animals with large brains is what we will always be. Rest In Peace, the 5 human crew of STS-51L. Your sacrifice was not in vain 🇺🇲
I was attending Manchester Community College, in Manchester CT, at the time. I was on my way to my astronomy class when I heard this on the car radio. Because I had to get to class, it was the first time I missed watching a shuttle launch. When I arrived on campus and told my professor - a German - what had just happened, paraphrasing, he replied nonchalantly "Well, these things happen." He was an opponent of the manned space program, and believed that we should only be doing robotic exploration. The fact that seven lives had just been snuffed out apparently did not phase him in the least. Needles to say, but I was no fan of the man after he revealed himself to be possessed of such cold indifference.
Профессор был прав. Колумбия тому пример. Самое гнусное в том, что не были наказаны люди оказывающие давление на взлёт шаттла в этот день. 3 раза до этого был перенос старта.
On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight.[1][2] The mission, designated STS-51-L, was the 10th flight for the orbiter and the 25th flight of the Space Shuttle fleet. The crew was scheduled to deploy a communications satellite and study Halley's Comet while they were in orbit, in addition to taking schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe into space under the Teacher In Space program. The latter resulted in a higher-than-usual media interest and coverage of the mission; the launch and subsequent disaster were seen live in many schools across the United States. The cause of the disaster was the failure of the primary and secondary redundant O-ring seals in a joint in the shuttle's right solid rocket booster (SRB). The record-low temperatures on the morning of the launch had stiffened the rubber O-rings, reducing their ability to seal the joints. Shortly after liftoff, the seals were breached, and hot pressurized gas from within the SRB leaked through the joint and burned through the aft attachment strut connecting it to the external propellant tank (ET), then into the tank itself. The collapse of the ET's internal structures and the rotation of the SRB that followed threw the shuttle stack, traveling at a speed of Mach 1.92, into a direction that allowed aerodynamic forces to tear the orbiter apart. Both SRBs detached from the now-destroyed ET and continued to fly uncontrollably until the range safety officer destroyed them. The crew compartment, human remains, and many other fragments from the shuttle were recovered from the ocean floor after a three-month search-and-recovery operation. The exact timing of the deaths of the crew is unknown, but several crew members are thought to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. The orbiter had no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment at terminal velocity with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable. The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the Space Shuttle program. President Ronald Reagan created the Rogers Commission to investigate the accident. The commission criticized NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes that had contributed to the accident. Test data since 1977 demonstrated a potentially catastrophic flaw in the SRBs' O-rings, but neither NASA nor SRB manufacturer Morton Thiokol had addressed this known defect. NASA managers also disregarded engineers' warnings about the dangers of launching in cold temperatures and did not report these technical concerns to their superiors. As a result of this disaster, NASA established the Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance, and arranged for deployment of commercial satellites from expendable launch vehicles rather than from a crewed orbiter. To replace Challenger, the construction of a new Space Shuttle orbiter, Endeavour, was approved in 1987, and the new orbiter first flew in 1992. Subsequent missions were launched with redesigned SRBs and their crews wore pressurized suits during ascent and reentry.
Two editing observations : The footage of the engines being gimballed about 19:30 is NOT from 51-L, but an earlier launch. Also the sequence at 20:48 is actually the STS-6 Challenger launch from 1983, not 1986. (Look up the 1983 NASA film We Deliver). Not looking for argument or controversy, just space geek technical observations.
You might be correct you might be incorrect....the bottom line is it doesn’t matter they were just trying to illustrate what is happening at these time time stamps in the launch sequence....stop trying to start a conspiracy theory for the unimaginative.
@@wartwyndhaven from watching videos of all the launches years ago. Also I’d commend to your viewing the NASA film “We Deliver” made in 1983 about flights STS-5 through STS-8, which is also on RU-vid. Look around 5 minutes in for the STS-6 launch. As for the black and white view of the engines during the gimbal check, you notice there’s quite a lot of lox vapors but all the video from the day of the actual 51-L flight had pretty minimal venting. Not trying to gin up any controversies, just pointing out some of the footage is from previous flights, that’s all. Some of us space geeks have an observant eye for those kinds of things ;-)
They actually didn’t disintegrate in the sky at that moment, the crew cabin did manage to escape and when it hit the water at 200 mph, it just shattered, which they should’ve add some sort of parachute.
The Accident Board determined that the crew survived the explosion, the crew cabin was seen falling from the sky, but the crew died instantly when the crew cabin hit the water at high speeds.
@@backfromcuba yep there were plans to have the orbiter cockpit be a makeshift lifeboat and separate via explosive bolts and then parachute to the ground at a safe speed, but was canned due to the expense and complexity of the plan. The first initial test flights of the shuttle had 2 ACES ejection seats for the 2 test pilots/astronauts but were then replaced when the shuttles started orbit ops.
The accident report did not determine that. At least one of the astronauts was alive but they were all unconscious or deceased before impact with the ocean.
So sad. I was sitting at my desk at work when I overheard someone say, "did you hear the shuttle blew up?" I assumed it was a setup to a really sick joke. Then the person said, "no, really, it just blew up". I felt my heart sink.
I remember seeing a news item on breakfast tv in the UK about ice forming on the shuttle as it was waiting to launch on an unseasonably cold morning on the flight pad, was horrified to see on the news later that day what happened, it really did shake everyone up as up to then the Shuttle program was one of the few technological success of the era.
I'm sure there were a lot of mixed emotions for the crew and assistants. The launch was scrubbed three times prior to this launch. It means the crew had been all suited up and ready to go but then cancelled..
Challengerrrrr, go at throttle up (beep) Roger go at throttle up....(crumple sounds, all telemetry lost) I was 8 when this happened, I remember it very well. I had dreams about finding pieces of the crew, helmet and boot, horrible nightmares. It made me extremely sad, we were so excited to watch the teacher in space, it was a big deal. We were so scared this would stop all space exploration and the shuttles would never fly again...we would have been excited to know it would fly again but would be horrified to know in 2003 it would happen again on the way back...
Thiokol had already designed a fix for the SRB field joints IIRC, so if a booster had been recovered with significant burn through I'm sure flights would have been grounded until the fix was implemented. No way they would have kept flying knowing it could be so significant. However it's doubtful that a flight with burn through that severe was survivable. Even if the burn through site had been pointed away from the external tank, you still have a rapidly growing hole in the booster that would either continually lose thrust until the control systems were unable to compensate, or even damage the structural integrity of the booster casing so much that it exploded. The loss of pressure inside the casing would have led to that booster burning out earlier than the other by several seconds, which sounds like it would be a very bad day indeed.
The loss of these beautiful souls is such an American tragedy. I hope they found the those responsible who were warned not to launch and launched anyway and prosecuted them to the full extent. What an American tragedy. God rest their souls in peace.
i was7 or 8, in second grade in Richardson, Tx when this happened. The school district made a HUGE , Texas sized ordeal installing televisions in every classroom till the "day a teacher was going to space".....When it blew up on live television the amount of stupid questions and tears was unbearable. It was in THAT moment i realized how precious life is and how willfully ignorant people, children- MY PEERS (then and NOW) actually are. Humanity is doomed
Watching them enter the shuttle gave me the creeps i wanted to yell at them dont go in the shuttle its gonna explode turn around its heartbreaking i was in 4th grade when this happened we were all watching on tv then when the shuttle exploded we all said why are the rockets doing that? And the teacher cut the tv off and ran out of the room then the principle came in and tried ro explain to us what happened we didnt understand it until we got home and our parents told us it was a very sad day ill never forget!!
Maybe. Or maybe the concerns about the hard freeze and the O-rings were with him as he strapped in. Maybe his last thought behind his "uh oh" was _there it is._
I wonder if the twang of the stack contributed to opening the joint. Bottom of booster bolted down but top of booster moves with the shuttle as it pitches forward then back.
All that education, PHD’s late nights doing report’s for school, Your entire life busting your ass being educated to the max all thrown away riding a bottle rocket up five miles to a big explosion. I spent my life and career hanging on the back of a garbage truck and retired, making good pension and am able to enjoy the rest of my life fishing, camping, hiking, woodworking.
That's always the way it is...They always close the barn door AFTER. the horses have been set loose. Those seven astronauts trusted NASA with their lives, and NASA basically said---Who cares, let 's get going with this launch.
I was 14. Had just moves back to Norway after 7 years in the states so I very much felt american. This was amazing. Nobody cared at all here in Norway, but I sure did. Had nobody to talk to about it cause most people were `screw USA`. They can have this tragedy. Doesn’t Bother me the slightest. I was really alone coming to terms with this disaster. Not even my family really cared cause Olaf Palme, the Swedish prime minister was shot and killed at the same time, whi h dominated the news here for years. Challenger not worth shit.
I just realized - the astronauts falling who had been in space were very experienced in zero-G. The time they spent falling they were likely, at least after the initial shock, adeptly moving around and making last-words communications to ground control.
I recall being in middle school that day, art class matter of fact, an the school officials over the speaker said all students report to the cafeteria,, walked in an there's the TV showing it... Everybody took it serious...
This was no accident. This was arrogance. Engineers warned and warned about this very occurrence was going to take place and NASA management didn’t listen. Totally needless deaths. :(
The moment of the explosion was shown in the TV program "News". I was 12 years old. Later, the question arose: if the shuttle withstands the temperature of the plasma, then why did it instantly disappear when the fuel in the tank ignited? Or was there an explosion inside the shuttle with the ignition of the fuel? A terrible tragedy, astronauts are very sorry. Eternal memory.
