[FL_Native]

The “O” rings were seals between sections of the solid rocket boosters. That morning it was like 28 degrees here, and the “O” rings froze, not allowing them to seal properly. The hot gasses from the solid rocket fuel escaped through a joint in the SRB causing the External Tank, which is filled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to explode.

Tomorrow will be a “Day of Remembrance” for us here at Kennedy Space Center for the Apollo and Shuttle astronauts.

[hellbender]

If I remember correctly, there was at least one NASA engineer who was concerned about those O-rings before the catastrophe, but he was ignored. Somewhat like the lower-level FBI agent who was ignored when she warned about the al-Qaeda guys going to flight school. The agent later got in touch with famed physicist Richard Feynman, who made a demonstration of how the O-rings go rigid at low temperatures before the commission investigating the crash, of which Feynman was a member. If only there had been someone like that at the 9-11 commission. Instead, we got guilty lawyers and political hacks dedicated to exonerating the Demonrats.