Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster - 34 Years Ago Today

[ucfgrad93]

34 years ago today, the space shuttle Challenger was lost killing all 7 astronauts. This was the Challenger's 10th mission.


Commander Francis "Dick" Scobee
Pilot Mike Smith
Mission specialist Judith Resnik
Mission Specialist Ron McNair
Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka
Payload specialist Christa McAuliffe
Payload specialist Greg Jarvis.

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[quagmire]

Management overriding engineers who designed the damned O-Ring who said don’t launch with evidence that those temps were too cold for launch( discovery came close to being challenger on the previous launch in similar temps). All because of schedule pressure.

Also if it wasn’t for that wind shear too...That material that was lodged into the joint possibly could have held on until SRB sep.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Management overriding engineers who designed the damned O-Ring who said don’t launch with evidence

A problem that was known for years.
I wonder how the NASA exec that said "Stop wearing your damn engineering hats and wear management hats!" during the famous teleconference with the vendor felt after the tragedy.

 

[MacNut]

A problem that was known for years.
I wonder how the NASA exec that said "Stop wearing your damn engineering hats and wear management hats!" during the famous teleconference with the vendor felt after the tragedy.

It was something that has plagued NASA for years. Big budgets and they demand results.

 

[quagmire]

It was something that has plagued NASA for years. Big budgets and they demand results.

NASA hardly has a big budget. It's minuscule compared to the rest of the US budget. It's why we always have these gaps between manned launch capability. One program needs to die for a new one to be funded. Why the ISS is also under threat of being axed.

 

[MacNut]

NASA hardly has a big budget. It's minuscule compared to the rest of the US budget. It's why we always have these gaps between manned launch capability. One program needs to die for a new one to be funded. Why the ISS is also under threat of being axed.

Apollo had big budgets for it's day and there was a lot of pressure to launch. With a lot of setbacks.

 

[quagmire]

Apollo had big budgets for it's day and there was a lot of pressure to launch. With a lot of setbacks.

Yeah that was the last time NASA had a decent budget to get things done in a quick fashion. Now that NASA isn't a higher priority, Shuttle must die for the successor, ISS being threatened to get killed for funding for moon and mars, etc.

 

[MacNut]

Yeah that was the last time NASA had a decent budget to get things done in a quick fashion. Now that NASA isn't a higher priority, Shuttle must die for the successor, ISS being threatened to get killed for funding for moon and mars, etc.

The shuttle program was a lot more expensive than they assumed it would be. They were hoping to launch every 3 weeks. That just wasn't possible.

 

[quagmire]

The shuttle program was a lot more expensive than they assumed it would be. They were hoping to launch every 3 weeks. That just wasn't possible.

True, but Shuttle was also more complex than what NASA originally envisioned thanks to DoD getting involved in its development, Saturn family being killed, etc.

 

[MacNut]

True, but Shuttle was also more complex than what NASA originally envisioned thanks to DoD getting involved in its development, Saturn family being killed, etc.

It was also stripped down from the original designs. There were a lot of corners cut to get to what they had.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Why the ISS is also under threat of being axed.

ISS has outlived its life expectancy.

 

[Huntn]

In one of those where were you moments, I was standing in a facility at the Naval Research Lab, Anacostia, DC watching a TV monitor as this was telecast. 😔

 

[user_xyz]

34 years ago today, the space shuttle Challenger was lost killing all 7 astronauts. This was the Challenger's 10th mission.


Commander Francis "Dick" Scobee
Pilot Mike Smith
Mission specialist Judith Resnik
Mission Specialist Ron McNair
Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka
Payload specialist Christa McAuliffe
Payload specialist Greg Jarvis.

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wow-34 years?? Doesn't seem so long ago.
Tragic.

 

[ucfgrad93]

In one of those where were you moments, I was standing in a facility at the Naval Research Lab, Anacostia, DC watching a TV monitor as this was telecast. 😔

I remember stepping outside of where I worked and saw the plumes of the SRB skewing away. Knew something was wrong, but didn't know what.

 

[eyoungren]

In one of those where were you moments, I was standing in a facility at the Naval Research Lab, Anacostia, DC watching a TV monitor as this was telecast. 😔

I was home sick from school (15, 9th grade), on the floor under a blanket, watching live. One of the few times in my life where major events have happened and I've actually seen them as they unfold.

 

[rhett7660]

I was in sixth grade and my whole class was watching it live... We had a whole session dedicated to the space shuttle with this launch being the final segment of it. I can remember being shocked at what I saw, and then looking over to my teacher and the teacher from other class who was also in the room, and they were both in tears.

 

[decafjava]

I was in college but living at home at the time and my Mom knocked on my door (I had afternoon class) to tell me the shuttle had exploded.

 

[Peace]

I was sitting in my living room watching the launch..

That's about it.

The rest is sad.

 

[JamesMike]

I was watching it on TV thinking it was a routine mission when the explosion occurred. It just goes to show you, you can not take things for granted.

 

[satcomer]

I was home (Snow day at friends House) because his parents had a laser disk player and TOP Gun on disk! During the disk turn over it was on the news channel and they kept replaying the tragedy!

 

[Thomas Veil]

I remember stepping outside of where I worked and saw the plumes of the SRB skewing away. Knew something was wrong, but didn't know what.

I remember those plumes, too. I (and probably everybody else) thought, that doesn't look right. But nobody spoke. Not the people watching on the ground. Not the TV news people. And for what seemed like long minutes, not even Mission Control. Everyone was afraid to say what they were thinking. As I recall, Houston finally broke the silence to announce an "anomaly" or something like that, and that was the first time the news people openly acknowledged that something had gone very, very wrong.