In Memory of the Challenger Disaster: A Look at the Tragedy that Shook the World

On January 28th 1986, NASA, the United States, and really, the world at large, suffered a great loss ion the Challenger disaster. What was scheduled to be another important part of NASA's shuttle program turned into a tragedy that resulted in the decimation of the space shuttle and the loss of all 7 people on board. Below, we'll take a look back on what exactly happened, and the legacy and impact of the disaster.

What Happened? 

Above is a video of the Challenger disaster occurring LIVE on national television. Just 73 seconds after lift off, the shuttle starting to break apart. Immediately following that was the shuttle's descent into the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Florida (Note: it was launched at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida). It is believed that several of the crew members were actually alive until impact with the ocean; however, they were very likely unconscious during the shuttle's plunge. The impact of the ocean surface was just too strong and too violent to be survivable.

The Challenger disaster shocked the nation. Approximately 1 out of every 6 Americans witnessed it on live TV, as you saw above. This included thousands of school children, as this particular launch was popular for its inclusion of the first ever teacher in space - Christa McAuliffe. Overall, about 85% of Americans found out about the disaster within an hour of the fall. It sent shockwaves through NASA and throughout the country and made citizens and scientists alike question our place amongst the stars.

But before we can discuss any lasting impact of the disaster, it's important to talk about why this even happened - the truth is very unfortunate and disheartening.

What Caused the Disaster? 

The short answer is: O-Rings. 

Space shuttles are attached to these things called Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). During the first minute or two of flight (right after lift off), these are the mechanisms that provide the majority of the thrust. As you can imagine, they're filled with various chemicals that come out of the SRBs as exhaust, launching the shuttle upwards. 

Here's the thing though: these things are absolutely massive! They typically weigh over 1 million pounds and measure almost 150 feet in length! As a result, the SRBs must be built as separate components and then put together afterwards, as seen below: 

The specifics aren't too important - just keep in mind that it is obviously very important for all of these parts to be securely fastened together. The big parts that you had to put together in the end were joined together by "field joints", which were then sealed with two O-Rings made of a kind of rubber. 

Now, these O-Rings are a very important part of the sealing process. They help in keeping the SRBs together and they also help ensure that none of the gases inside the rocket leaks out through cracks in the seal. O-Rings help direct all of the gas and exhaust out the end of the rocket, which is important because that's how thrust is generated. Another important point is that these gases were really hot and under extremely high pressures. They needed to keep them contained and under control. 

The O-Rings used by NASA on the Challenger craft turned out to have a major design flaw. This flaw left it susceptible to poor conditions (such as cold weather). The cold weather for instance had the ability to make the O-Rings essentially come loose and expand a bit. This was the case in the disaster: as the O-Rings weakened, some of the internal gas was able to leak out, eventually eroding the O-Rings. After the rings faltered, the SRBs became dangerously unsteady and eventually exploded and broke apart. 

The tragedy in all of this however, is that this all came down to human negligence and it could have been avoided with a little bit of caution. After the disaster, the U.S. government launched the Rogers Commission, which had the task of figuring out just what exactly happened and who was guilty. 

Rogers Commission Findings 

Pictured: Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman speaking at the Rogers Commission 

The committee for the Rogers Commission involved some high profile names such as Neil Armstrong and Donald Kutyna. One of the biggest celebrities of the committee however was Richard Feynman. It was said that he was actually brought onto the commission for his willingness to say whatever he wanted. Feynman wasn't concerned with politics or NASA's public relations image. He simply seeked truth and that was very welcome in a commission that many people were skeptical about (since NASA seemed to be trying to shirk off a lot of the blame). 

Overall, it appears that the two parties that are most at fault here would be NASA and the independent contractor that actually built the O-Rings, Morton Thiokol. What they've really been condemned for over the years however is not necessarily the fact that they had fault equipment - that happens from time to time. Rather, it's the fact that they did not follow proper safety procedures and failed to do anything about the problem in advance. 

One of the most damning findings of the report turned out to be the fact that NASA had actually known about the faults in the O-Rings as early as 1977 - a full 9 years before Challenger was launched! They were also well aware of the potential disaster that could happen due to those faults. 

Another important finding was that NASA was apparently unaware of the affect of cold temperatures on the rings. Morton Thiokol however, did know about the dangers of cold temperatures and actually never tested the O-Rings at zero degrees celsius or below. Now, while the engineers at Morton Thiokol were aware of the problems, they were never able to properly communicate that to either the higher ups at their own company or any NASA managers. 

Moreover, the decision to launch on that particular day was not smart - it was colder that morning that any other launch they had previously done (it was about -2 degrees Celsius at the time). Hours before the flight, ice could actually be seen on some parts of the rocket: 

 Feynman actually did a famous demonstration on the O-Ring failures and reaction to the cold in front of NASA administration and government officials:   

Feynman would go on to absolutely lambast NASA administration and its managers for their incompetence, scientific illiteracy and, perhaps worst of all, deception. NASA officials had previously claimed that the risk of a disaster was only 1 in 100 000 - that is a stupefyingly low risk and it would mean that, on average, NASA could launch a shuttle like Challenger every single day for over 250 and only expect 1 failure! 

Naturally, Feynman doubted that value and when he interviewed engineers who actually worked on the problem, he found that, on average, they assigned a probability of disaster of about 1 in 100 (which basically means that the engineers concluded that Challenger was 1000 times more dangerous than what management assumed). 

Clearly, there was a disconnect between the engineers and management, which proved to be arguably the greatest factor in this disaster. It marks a dark day for NASA, as Feynman (through more interviews) would go on to expose the scientific illiteracy of the managers as well - it was shown that many of them did not understand the fundamentals of safety procedure or how the rocket was supposed to function. 

The Failings of NASA

So, why would NASA administration continue to push the project forward even though many of their very own engineers informed them of the impending catastrophe? Well, there could be many answers and most of them are very disheartening. One of them would be that NASA really needed this mission to launch and be successful - they were almost two decades removed from the peak of their popularity when they landed humans on the moon and were now facing budget restrictions. The Challenger mission received a lot more hype amongst the American people however, as there was a plan in place to have Challenger launch the first teacher into space. Any sort of delay would have killed the hype and excitement that NASA was starting to once again receive. 

But of course, this is extremely unethical and perhaps the most shameful series of decisions ever made by the organization. It is absolutely dishonest to lie about the chance of failure, as it is likely that the school teacher, along with many of the other crew members on board, would have reconsidered had they known that they were 1000 times more likely to die than what was advertised to them. NASA was culpable for this disaster and 7 lives were lost primarily due to negligence. 

Overall, this was a black mark on our space history. Of course, in attempting to push humanity out to the stars and leave our home behind, adversity and, yes, even disasters of this magnitude are to be expected. No one ever said getting to the moon was going to be easy and no one will say that the things we may do in the future - such as land a human on Mars, or send manned spacecraft out into the deep solar system and beyond - will be easy. In hearing about Challenger, you will often hear the phrase: 

Per Ardua Ad Astra 

Which is Latin for "Through adversity to the stars". Although the general sentiment (that great achievements require sacrifice) is true, Challenger is different.

In this disaster, there was just far too much politics, negligence, and sleazy business being done for this quote to be applied. Challenger was avoidable - this shouldn't have happened and even a modicum of communication, competence and ethical consideration on the part of NASA administration would have went a long way in preventing this disaster. As humans continue to push the boundaries of space flight, disasters will continue to happen, but this one was unacceptable. 

Now, while I'd love to say that NASA learned from this mistake and completely corrected itself, that is not the case. The Columbia disaster - something that many critics and professionals see as a tragedy that was caused by the same institutional problems that led to Challenger - is evidence of this. 

So, although after Challenger, NASA did stop all shuttle launches for 32 months, redesigned its rocket boosters, and created an Office of Safety and Quality Assurance, it seems like they have a long way to go. I hope they can get things straightened out over there, for the sake of their amazing men and women who put their lives on the line for space travel and human exploration. 

We'll see how all of this develops in the future. Until then, a thank you to Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe - one of the best crews ever put together. We're not going to forget you guys for a long time. Perhaps humanity will see you all in the stars one day.