The first space shuttle, Enterprise, launched in 1977. NASA couldn’t have been more proud of their accomplishments and looked forward to the years to come with many new ideas, experiments to try and space to explore. While this might have been the case for a few years following, NASA couldn’t have predicted what was to happen on the mornings of January 28, 1986 and February 1, 2003… or could they? Disaster struck for both the Challenger and the Columbus space shuttles. Even though both scenarios were different, they were one in the same when it came to the reasoning behind why it happened. The ideas of cultural change, ethics of organization and decision making were all to blame. Introduction It has been 29 years since the Challenger space shuttle disaster and 12 years since the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated during reentry. With proper precautions and improvements to both shuttles, these incidents could have been avoided.
Summary
The Challenger exploded on its tenth flight during mission STS-51L, killing all seven crew members. The explosion occurred 73 seconds after the shuttle took liftoff, and the reason behind the explosion were the faulty O-rings. There were predictions that if the O-rings were to malfunction due to the cold temperatures, the rockets could explode before the shuttle took off from the Launchpad (Miller 79).
There had been speculation that the O-rings could fail, but those opinions were quickly pushed aside as the crew boarded with the
After nearly a five day delay filled with wind, rain, and freezing temperatures, Challenger was finally ready to go on mission 51-L. It would be the twenty-fifth mission for the world's first fleet of reusable manned spaceships. A spike in public interest in the flight had been caused by the
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
Well known president, Ronald Reagan, in his address to the nation, “Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger,” expresses grief for the explosion of the Challenger. Reagan’s purpose is to commemorate the seven men and women, who lost their lives and offer hope to those who will continue to explore space. He creates a sad, yet hopeful tone in order to convey to America, we all mourn the loss of the Challenger Seven, but our space program will continue.
On January 28, 1986, as millions of Americans watched on live television and in person, the Challenger space shuttle exploded and broke up over the Atlantic Ocean just moments after its launch. This space mission was significant for several reason, among them was that it would be the first time where the space shuttle would carry a civilian into outer space. Also, there was a frenzy of interest for Americans as the U.S. and Russians were locked in a space race for space exploration supremacy. Instead. President Ronald Reagan was left with the unenviable duty of consoling a nation that had just witnessed the most significant disaster in American history.
It holds true that government organizations gradually decline; the enthusiasm is replaced with bureaucracy, employees are resistant to change and overall performance is decreased. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is no exception to this. NASA is an example of bureaucracy having a detrimental effect on an organization. The lines of communication became skewed and were often broken while the organization was locked in an internal battle over who exactly was in charge. While there were heads of each department and heads of each branch, critical information often slipped through the cracks. It was this breakdown in communication and the failure to address known issues that was the direct cause for both the Challenger and Columbia explosions. The explosions, though separated by seventeen years, were incredibly similar. Concerns had been brought to the table and similarly dismissed as “acceptable risk.” This acceptable risk proved fatal for the crews of both space shuttles. Bureaucracy and financial expediency led to reduced federal funding, general distrust from the public, and growing disinterest. The organization that sent men to the moon is vastly different than the organization in charge today. NASA’s beginnings were less clouded in red tape and bureaucratic policies. Ideas were
Perhaps no greater tragedy defines the American Race for Space than the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger before millions of Americans as they watched on live TV in 1986. Building on two decades of successful space exploration kicked off by President Kennedy before his death, by the early eighties the American culture both believed that it was our right to fly into space and that no one did it better than we did. NASA had sent mission after mission into space over more than twenty years, each one accomplishing space exploration goals and building the reputation that America owned the stars. That day in January of 1986 was supposed to be another of those successes as the Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral carrying not only professional astronauts into space but also one everyday person, teacher Christa McAuliffe. Instead, the world watched as after seventy-three seconds after liftoff hopes and dreams exploded with the Challenger - leaving astronauts dead, the space program in jeopardy and America grieving and looking for answers. How leadership responded, what they said and did, would be really important to how the nation dealt with the loss and to the future of the space program. The man for the job was President Ronald Reagan, whose address to the nation appealed to the public on an emotional and logical level and helped to ensure that they
"Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.” Ronald Reagan described the five astronauts and two payload specialists who died in the Challenger explosion, about six hours after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its launch. Ronald Reagan’s Address to the Nation would be broadcasted on television and radio nationwide. In this speech, Reagan tells us that this is a day to remember and mourn the loss of the brave challenger crew. Reagan argues that we are pioneers on space travel, and while this is a tragic loss, we must continue to expand our knowledge of space and keep exploring the “Final Frontier.”
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.
On the cold morning of January 28, 1986, when the temperature hung ten degrees below freezing with the excessive wind chill, The Challenger was set to launch from Cape Canaveral Florida. On board, seven crew members, including the first civilian set to go to space, teacher Christa McAuliffe, awaited the final order to launch. As thousands of children watched on television, the shuttle left the platform, and seconds later, erupted into a plume of smoke, killing all on board. Even though the explosion of The Challenger was a tragedy for America’s space program, the disaster taught NASA many new lessons, a promised a bright future for space exploration,and reinforced the importance of science and math in school.
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 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.
“Mr. Ebeling never recovered from the disaster, ‘I’ve been under terrible stress since the accident,’ he told The Houston Chronicle in 1987. ‘I have headaches. I cry. I have bad dreams. I go into a hypnotic trance almost daily.’ He soon left Thiokol and the engineering profession. For the rest of his life he faulted himself for not doing enough to prevent the launch” (Grimes p.2). Robert Ebeling was one of the Morton Thiokol engineers who knew that the Challenger space shuttle would explode. The Challenger disaster occurred in 1986, and in the early 1980s, earlier versions of the shuttle had been launched. There were signs of problems with the O-rings, but they were never resolved, resulting in a catastrophe. Engineers from Morton Thiokol,
they had to face when the problem was first noticed, which was as early as
Seventy three seconds into its 10th flight, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing the seven crew members on board [1]. The Challenger was the second space shuttle constructed by NASA and had completed nine successful missions prior to the disaster. Following the accident, the shuttle program was suspended for 32 months as President Ronald Regan appointed a Commission, chaired by William P. Rogers and known as the Rogers Commission, to investigate the cause of the accident [1].
This week’s assignment brought back a lot of memories for me. It made me think back to what I was doing and how this tragedy impacted not only me, but also the United States as a whole. Going through this simulation gave me a little more insight into what actually happened and how this tragedy could have possibly been avoided had NASA’s management team taken heed to the engineers and others who advised them to bring in someone to do a complete inspection of the shuttle. During this simulation, I viewed this tragedy through the eyes of one of the many engineers that were employed at NASA during this tragic time. I feel that this tragedy was the result of a combination of leadership and process failures.