Space Shuttle Challenger

The Shuttle Disaster that changed NASA

By:
Ritesh Chhabra
Sarang Kurani

Challenger Overview:

First called STA-099, Challenger was

built to serve as a test vehicle for
the Space Shuttle Program.

NASA decided to convert it to a fullfledged space-rated Orbiter.

Its first flight was on April 4, 1983,

when it was named STS-6.

Challenger had 9 successful

missions before, on January 28,
1986, it exploded just 73 seconds
after liftoff, killing all of its crew.

Notable Firsts:
Besides the milestones in space technology, Challenger also was the vehicle
by which several cultural firsts happened in the space shuttle program.
The first American female astronaut, Sally Ride rode up on STS-7 in
June 1983.
The first African-American, Guion Bluford, reached space on STS-8
In 1984, two women, Ride and Kathyrn Sullivan flew on one mission for
the first time, as well as the first Canadian, Marc Garneau.
Other milestones include the first night launch and landing(STS-8), as
well as the first operational Spacelab Flight.

The crew of the Challenger Mission STS-51L

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

Working of a space
shuttle
A space shuttle consists of
the following major
components:
1. Two solid rocket
boosters or SRBs. Critical for the launch.
2. External feul tanks or
ETs. - Carries Fuel for
the launch
3. An orbiter. - Carries
astronauts and payload.

Space Shuttle Flight Path

A typical space shuttle
mission is as follows.

Getting into orbit

Orbit

Re-entry

landing

A short video of what happened.

Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fSTrmJtHLFU

What happened?
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986,
when the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger broke apart 73
seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members,
which included five NASA astronauts and two Payload Specialists.

Where and When did the accident occur ?

Challenger's STS-51L mission was the first shuttle liftoff scheduled
for Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, Florida.

After several technical and weather-related delays, Challenger

launched at 11:38 a.m. EST on Jan. 28, 1986.

What went wrong?

During the January 1986 launch of Challenger, the temperature was
below zero. The cold shrank the rubber o-rings and they did not seal
the joints properly. During ascent, hot gases escaped through one of
the joints of the SRB.
Like a blowtorch, the gases cut through the thin skin of the ET and
ignited the liquid hydrogen fuel. Challenger broke up and the crew
was lost.

Teleconference on the eve of the launch

The night before the launch, NASA had a conference call with Morton Thiokol,
manufacturer of the SRB.

A group of Morton Thiokol engineers, and in particularRoger Boisjoly, expressed

their deep concern about a possible O-ring failure in cold weather and
recommended postponing the launch.

NASA staff opposed the delay. My God, Thiokol, When do you want me to launch
next April? said Lawrence Mulloy, one of the shuttle program manager attending
the teleconference.

With the pressure from NASA, Thiokol management gave their approval to the
launch, and Challenger was on its way to disaster.

Could the accident have been prevented?

NASA managers had known since 1977 that contractor Morton

Thiokol's design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic
flaw in the O-rings, but they had failed to address this problem
properly.

They also disregarded warnings (an example of "go fever") from

engineers about the dangers of launching posed by the low
temperatures of that morning, and failed to adequately report
these technical concerns to their superiors.

Aftermath

The Challenger disaster halted NASA's space shuttle program for almost three
years as the agency investigated the causes of the accident.

Rogers Commission - the presidential panel was charged with the studying
Challengers doomed mission.

The commission found issues in NASA's decision-making processes and

construction flaws in O-rings and the shuttle solid rocket boosters.

The commission offered nine main recommendations, and NASA's space shuttle
program saw a 32-month hiatus as the agency implemented changes and
reformed launch procedures. Space shuttle flights resumed Sept. 29, 1988, with
Discovery's STS-26 mission.

Any Questions?

Thank You!