Few people saw the tragedy unfold? Bullocks. There were classrooms full of children watching because there was a teacher on board.
I stopped reading after this statement.
"There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin."
The media back then was relentless against the shuttle, every launch attempt aborted (even for weather!), the scumbag MSM would use it against NASA.
That may have caused pressure.
I learned to never trust the media back then because of how they handled shuttle news.
After she blew, I called my relief on the Ike and told him the news. He thought I was yanking his chain until somebody else ran into the EOS with the news.
One of those memories, like Tuesday the 11th, I'll sadly never forget...
:-(
Well, most of this strikes me as hair-splitting. Somebody screwed up by not realizing that the o-ring couldn't take the low temperature. Feynman was the guy who figured out where the problem was. The shuttle blew up, in common parlance, i.e., it leaked fuel that exploded. It was understood at the time that the crew might not have died right away, but there didn't seem to be any point, or respect for the crew, in rubbing it in the unpleasant details. A lot of people saw it on TV. If they missed the live action, they saw the reruns.
So, what's the point of this article?
Maybe the only significant point that I can draw from it is that the news media tried to blame a powerful Republican senator, who was accused of having an incestuous relationship with a greedy corporation. Given the behavior of the media over the years since the shuttle accident, is anyone surprised by this?
maybe I've had my head in the sand for 20 yrs, but I've never heard the claim that enviro-derived design changes were related to the seal failure on challenger. on the other hand, far too little attention has been paid to the change in insulation application for columbia... drastic rise in significant tile damage thereafter.
Obert is a great space related expert and author, he knows his stuff. Perhaps there was some nitpicking, but I think he was looking for something to write about on the 20th anniversary of the disaster. Most people still dont know that the shuttle didnt "blow up", and that the astronauts were at least alive when they hit the ocean..
In other news, only 18 more ETs are being built.
Internal Lockheed Martin Memo From Marshall Byrd To Michoud
Employees Regarding Shuttle External Tank Contract Changes
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19405
"Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management — the disaster should have been avoidable"
It was avoidable. And there is no excuse for the warnings of the engineers to have been ignored. But in past history of exploration, human judgment failings have indeed caused disasters. Learning about ourselves (good and bad) is as much a part of the exploration process too. And the only way you learn is by doing.
It was a very heartbreaking day for me. I collected all the shuttle mission patches then, still do. I consumed NASA news as a child, I was a young man in 1986 and it hit me hard.
I see it in a bit different light now. They were all there because that is where they wanted to be. I wish I could change what happened. But I choose to celebrate those lost, and their lives still inspire the young to explore.
We will lose more people in these endeavours of exploration. History teaches this. But there is no lack of passion by those who choose to continue even if it be on imperfect wings.
I was assigned to Patrick AFB Hospital and watched shuttle launches from the parking lot. I will never forget that day, just like the day that Kennedy was killed and 911 it is indelibly etched on my brain. There were lots or rumors going on for months. We used to go out to the old Titan missle site for excercises and they buried all the recovered debris in one of the silos and covered it with concrete. Some of the rumors regarding the body parts and how they found them should not be repeated. Suffice it to say they did not die in the explosion.
Regardless of how many people actually did or did not see the launch live, (I personally did not watch it live), this article is a pretty good analysis of the facts surrounding the Challenger accident, and is worth reading.
Good post!
James Oberg, Name names or I call BS!
I remember this well. I was home sick from school and heard about it on the radio. I went downstairs to tell my mother.
Pride killed them.
I'll never forget that day. Watched it live at the office with some young computer programmers. When it blew up, they turned to me and said, "Do you think they're alive?" and I said, "You better hope not." Sad day. God rest their souls.
Address to the nation on the Challenger disaster
Oval Office
January 28, 1986
A few hours after the disaster, this speech was delivered to the American people via nationwide radio and television. 649 words
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.
I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."
There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
I was late for a college class already so I stopped to watch the launch in the dorm lobby with a few other students. Though I didn't want to believe what I saw, I had no doubt what had happened within a second of the explosion.
I was stunned as I walked out of the building where everyone sat in total silence. My professor made some snide remark about me being late again but didn't pursue the matter when he saw my face. I explained to the class what had happened, and though I tended to be a class "cut-up", everyone knew it was true though it was the first they had heard of it.
My professor ended the class 5 minutes later. I didn't even attempt to go to another class that day.
Since then I have had the same feeling only twice: once when a good buddy and others were killed in an explosion in Kuwait in 1991 just minutes after I had spoken to him (we were in different vehicles) and then again on the morning of September 11th, 2001.
Some events just leave an indelible mark - my wife's face at our wedding and my sons' births are some of only a few. Unfortunately these marks also include some I wish were not there - like the fateful days these astronauts, friends, and WTC workers "touched the face of God".
We were out on a snow day and I saw this in middle of the Price is Right. I was ticked at first because they overrode my favorite game show! I was in the 7th grade.