38 years ago this morning, #NASA Shuttle mission STS-51L launched Challenger at 11:38 AM EST with its crew of seven. 73 seconds later, its external tank failed, causing a rupture that destroyed Challenger and the crew.
This was the local coverage in Los Angeles that night, the 11 PM PST newscast.
This is a documentary about Christa McAuliffe, the "Teacher in Space," lost aboard Challenger 38 years ago today.
Barbara Morgan was the backup to Christa McAuliffe in the Teacher in Space program. Her flight was postponed for years; she finally qualified as a Mission Specialist, but her flight as postponed again by the loss of Columbia in 2003. She finally flew in 2007.
I worked with Barb many times over the years. If you need inspiration, you'll find it in Barb's life story.
This is #CNN live coverage of the STS-51L Challenger launch, January 28, 1986, starting at 11:00 AM EST. If you want to fast-forward to the launch, go to the 11:38 AM mark (0:38 minutes in the video).
So what caused the Challenger accident?
When I was asked, my response was always, "Bad management."
The technical cause was that the rubbery O-rings connecting the Solid Rocket Booster segments lost their elasticity in cold weather. It was a known phenomeon. #NASA was warned, but management ignored the problem. Rather than proving it was safe, they told the contractor to prove it would fail, otherwise certify the launch. (1/x)
One of the O-rings failed at ignition, on the lower right-side SRB. A gap allowed flame to burn against the mount holding the SRB to the orange External Tank.
At about T+73 seconds, the mount failed. The SRB swung into the top of the ET, causing it to rupture. The "explosion" was actually liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen coming together in an instant fireball.
Had management listened to the contractor's engineers, they wouldn't have launched that day. (2/x)
Let's also debunk the urban myth that President Reagan somehow caused this by demanding Challenger launch for his State of the Union address.
There is ZERO evidence of that. No one has produced a piece of paper or a witness with any evidence of that. ALL the evidence points to a telecon #NASA Marshall executives had with Thiokol exectuives. The recording proves NASA pressured Thiokol into approving the launch. No NASA executive has ever said the White House pressured them to launch. (3/3)
I dug out of the archives a half-hour documentary video #NASA released detailing the findings of the Challenger accident investigation.
Since understanding the causes is a bit technical, this is an excellent way to explain it.
It's now on my Space SPAN YouTube channel.
The front page of the #FloridaToday special edition, the evening of January 28, 1986.
The morning after ... The front page of local newspapers, 38 years ago this morning, after the Challenger accident.
@WordsmithFL
Periscope Film has some raw footage from the event on YT.