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N0KFQ > TODAY 28.01.13 17:18l 57 Lines 2480 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 35181_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 28
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<ON4HU<F6IQF<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<KA0MOS<KQ0I<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130128/1515Z 35181@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
Jan 28, 1986:
Challenger explodes after liftoff
The space shuttle Challenger explodes just after liftoff on this
day in 1986, killing the seven astronauts aboard.
The Challenger was the second shuttle built by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It took its first
flight into space on April 4, 1983, and made a total of nine
voyages prior to January 1986. The 10th trip for Challenger
included a teacher from New Hampshire, Christa MacAuliffe, among
the astronauts, as part of a new Teacher in Space project.
The Challenger was scheduled to launch on January 22, but a
series of problems with the weather delayed the launch until
January 28. It was a cold morning at Cape Canaveral and engineers
working on the shuttle team warned their superiors that certain
equipment on the shuttle was vulnerable to failure at cold
temperatures. However, these warnings went unheeded and at 11:39
a.m., the Challenger was launched. Problems began immediately.
First, the O-ring seal on the Challenger's solid rocket booster,
which had become brittle in the cold temperatures, failed. Flames
then broke out of the booster and damaged the external fuel tank.
Within 73 seconds, the shuttle began breaking apart, and then it
plunged into the ocean. All seven astronauts died but it remains
unclear what caused their deaths. A later investigation revealed
that the forces involved in the shuttle breakup were not
sufficient to have killed them, but that they may have lost
consciousness only seconds later as their module lost cabin
pressure.
President Ronald Reagan postponed the State of the Union address
that was scheduled for that evening and instead addressed the
nation about the tragedy. He appointed a commission to
investigate the accident and the shuttle program was put on
hiatus.
The Rogers Commission determined that Morton Thiokol, the company
that designed the solid rocket boosters, had ignored warnings
about potential flaws. NASA managers were aware of these design
problems, but also failed to take action. Famously, scientist
Richard Feynman, a member of the Rogers Commission, demonstrated
the O-ring flaw to the public using a simple glass of ice water.
Ten years after the disaster, two large pieces from the
Challenger washed ashore on a Florida beach. The remaining debris
from the Challenger is now stored in a missile silo at Cape
Canaveral.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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