The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Essay

On January 28, 1986, a day that was supposed to be filled with excitement and exploration, suddenly turned into a day filled with tragedy and sadness. The space shuttle Challenger was supposed to carry a seven member crew into orbit with one unique member along for this particular mission. Christa McAuliffe was supposed to be the first teacher to go into space as a member of the Teacher in Space Project. Due to this occasion, the media coverage and the number of viewers of this mission was extensive, particularly in schools across the nation. The Challenger lifted off shortly after 11:30 A.M., but tragically only seventy three seconds after takeoff it exploded sending debris and the seven crew members back to earth and into the Atlantic

On the morning of January 28th, 1986, Americans watched in shock and horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded only 74 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members on board including a high school teacher Christa McAuliffe. Thousands, including families of the crew and schoolchildren

The day of January 28th, 1986, in Cape Canaveral, Florida was by far one of the coldest days of the year. One the launch pad there icicles dangling from the launch tower, pad structure, and other launch equipment as the space shuttle Challenger sat there waiting for its historic launch. For over thirty-eight days Challenger's solid rocket boosters, and external tank were soaked seven inches of rain which had caused a enormous amount of icicles to form.

On the morning of Janurary 28th 1986, the world witnessed in shock and horror what was known as the Challenger disaster as the space shuttle exploded only 73 seconds after its launch, killing all seven crew members onboard including one teacher Christa McAuliffe. Approximately 17 percent of Americans watched the live broadcast of this launch, many of them schoolchildren including those from McAuliffe’s school. From this grave moment emerged an exigency that demands immediate action by the president. Later on that same day, President Ronald Reagan delivered his Challenger address to the nation.

Shuttle Challenger exploded just moments after liftoff on national television. Approximately 74 seconds into its flight, the shuttle erupted into flame and “was totally enveloped in the explosive burn” before breaking apart, killing all seven astronauts aboard. The Rogers Commission, appointed by President Ronald Reagan to investigate the disaster, later concluded that the accident occurred due to the failure of an O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster of the shuttle.1 Saddened by the event, Reagan postponed his annual State of the Union address and instead gave a national address on the disaster the night of the incident.

The Cold War was a turning point in both technological advancements and education in the hard sciences. Because of the Cold War, it formed several competitions, including the Nuclear Arms race and the Space Race. The United States continued their space passion by opening the space shuttle program in January of 1972, twenty-five years after the Cold War began. During the space shuttle programs, NASA sent over 600 astronauts to space, along with numerous other satellites. NASA’s space shuttles consisted of mainly three components which included the two 185,000 pound rocket boosters, orbiter, and the 78,100 pound external tank. Within the external tank were the shuttle’s propellants, which was mainly consisted of liquid hydrogen fuel and oxygen

The shuttle program had previous launch problems with O-rings had been detected. Now, under intense pressure, Morton Thiokol engineers recommended to NASA personnel that the shuttle should not be launched at low temperatures, but this recommendation was ignored (Bazerman, and Tenbrunsel, 2011).

Initially, the launch was supposed to be a cargo mission, carrying two satellites into space for the studying of Haley’s Comet. However, as time progressed, the team of engineers seemed to find issue after issue, causing the launch date to be pushed back from January 22, 1986 to January 28, 1986, when the engineers discovered the faulty O-ring (Cite About Education). From the viewpoint of the engineering, after so many failures that would cause a launch to be pushed back such a number of days- it should have been apparent that something was wrong, and needed to be repaired immediately. However, their constant efforts are representative to the NSPE- specifically “Being guided…by highest standards of integrity and honesty…” in that they are taking responsibility for their mistakes, and thus took action to provide potential solutions (Cite

On 1st of February, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after finished a 16 days mission in space. All seven astronauts were dead because of this incident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had stopped the space shuttle program for more than two years to investigate this tragedy. In the 16 days period, the astronauts did approximately 80 experiments on different categories, for example, life science and material science [1]. An investigation later has found out that the disaster was caused by a problem on the day that took off on 16th of January.

Firstly, canon one of the NSPE code of ethics was violated by supervisors along with other senior engineers who held top-level positions at NASA and Morton Thiokol which states that engineers should “Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.” There were several engineers at NASA who were aware of the issues with O-rings that were against the launch of the Challenger. In the book, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?”, Richard Feynman discusses about the meeting with Thiokol engineer, Mr. McDonald, who came to the Roger’s Commission meeting voluntarily and explained about the problem with O-ring seals of SRBs when shuttle is launched at temperatures below fifty-three degrees Fahrenheit. Engineers at Morton Thiokol, who built the SRBs, were worried about launching the Challenger at a low temperature since the temperature was predicted to be below freezing on launch day. So, Morton Thiokol opposed the Challenger’s launch warning NASA about the O-rings issues with low temperatures the night before the launch.

The tragedy could have been evaded. The problems with these rings were recognized by the engineers working on the the shuttle, but they didn't notify the administration. This had been noted in previous flights. Instead of demanding an inquiry, NASA ignored the issue and increased its tolerance. Just one night before, the NASA called one of the manufacturers of the spacecraft parts. A crowd of engineers told NASA about their concern of potential failures of the rings in severe climate and suggested to postpone the launching. NASA denied the flight's suspension, and with the pressure from them, the manufacturer approved launch, and Challenger was heading straight towards disaster. The failure in communicating, mixed with bad management that permitted NASA to avoid safety requirements, was the on-ground root of the

BODY: Sad news from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:38 a.m. January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart, disintegrating into the Atlantic Ocean, 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The crew included, five NASA astronauts and two Payload Specialists. NASA believes cold weather contributed to the fatal failure of the spacecraft. Christa McAuliffe an American high school teacher, Francis Scobee an American astronaut, Judith Resnik an American engineer, Michael Smith the pilot of the space shuttle, Ronald

Cause(s) of Accident The reason space shuttle Challenger went down was caused by a failure in the joint between the two lower segments of the right rocket motor. The specific failure was the destruction of the seals that are intended to prevent hot gases from leaking through the joint during the burn of the rocket motor. Unfortunately, a combustion gas leak through the right Solid Rocket Motor aft field joint initiated shortly after ignition eventually weakened and penetrated the external tank starting the breakup and loss of the Challenger.

In preparation for the launch, the Challenger’s decision makers were anxious to uphold the prominent capabilities of NASA, while disregarding the possibility of an unfavorable

NASA launched Columbia Space Shuttle after long trouble free preparation on January 16th, 2003, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida (KSC). However, 81.6 seconds later apiece of insulating foam came off from