The Tragic Challenger Explosion Essay

January 28, 1986, marks the day of the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion. A day that will go down in history as a horrible tragedy for both NASA and America. Seven lives were lost that day, including the life of a high school teacher from New Hampshire. Former President Ronald Reagan was tasked with explaining this tragic event to the US people. Because of this, Reagan postponed the State of the Union Address and spoke about the Challenger Explosion instead. In his address to the nation about the explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger, President Ronald Reagan effectively commemorates the loss of the Challenger crew while also celebrating the crew’s achievements and encouraging further space travel by establishing pathos through his show of empathy, employing strong positive connotation, and alluding to the great explorer, Sir Francis Drake.

The challenger disaster called for certain changes in the NASA organizational structure, culture and operations. The Rogers Commission carried out a full investigation into the causes of the disaster and recommended to NASA certain actions to mitigate future incidents. First of all, there was a creation of a Solid Rocket Motor Joint redesign team who would also analyse the sealing system (NATA Technical Reports Centre, 2010).

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].

Memos within a company serve several purposes. They may be used to report meeting agendas, policies, internal reports, or short proposals. Memos may also be used as a tool to inform staff, management, or executives of important information. Two very good examples of this are the memos written regarding the 1978 Three Mile Island Disaster, and the 1985 Challenger Explosion. Both of these disasters were forewarned by employees and addressed by memos to superiors. Bert M. Dunn of Babcock and Wilcox Company wrote a memo to his management to inform them of a potential operator error occurring at the nuclear power plants that needed to be addressed. R. M. Boisjoly of Morton

The United States was going to send the first people to orbit of the Earth. But first, needed to find men having the courage to go to the unknown. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA, worked tediously on certain standards an astronaut would have to pass. NASA created many physical and mental tests to determine who would be eligible for space exploration. As told, “by late January 1959, a list of 324 eligible men had developed.” Of those three hundred twenty-four candidates, seven were selected to go to space. Gus Grissim, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Gordo Cooper, Wally Schirra, Scott Carpenter, and James Lovell would soon become known as the Original Seven. Likewise, during the course of this event, the Soviet Union Space Program began working on a new rocket called Lunik 1. Yet, unlike the plans for Sputnik 1 and 2, Soviet Russia had much bigger and creative plans for Lunik 1 to attempt a milestone in history. Instead of having Lunik 1 orbit the Earth, the Soviet Space Program aimed for reaching the moon. Although this was the original plan, the launch did not go as hoped for. Lunik 1 had missed the moon by a few thousand miles. But, as inaccurately assumed, did not seem to be a complete loss for the Soviet Union. For example, “but it missed by 3,728 miles (Schefter, 78). The mission was not a failure, though, because Lunik was able to surpass the distances of all previous satellites and truly enter into space." Once again, the Soviet Union was able to take another step ahead into the Space Race. In addition to the victory of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Space Program was prepared to send the first man into space before the United States. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Space Program launched Yuri Gagarin into the orbit of Earth. Yuri became known as a cosmonaut, more or less translated to the “sailor of the universe.” Because science was not yet advanced

After the US was bombed he then returned to the US and tried to join the Air force but they wouldn’t allow him. So henry ford called him and fond away for him to be able to fly planes and fight as a civilian with out people knowing. After the war he mainly just taught people how to fly and tried to advance aviation.

Theodore was a senior, and the smartest kid in his grade. Since his freshmen year, he took only honors and AP courses; it was rumored that he didn’t have a single A- on his transcript. He had been apart of the Varsity Track team since freshman year, but had never ran a race. His mother was a wealthy entrepreneur, who made the majority of her money selling rubber ducks. His father was a college “packager,” and spent his days telling struggling high school juniors what extracurriculars to take. Most of his clients ended up not getting into college, but he was the only “packager” in the area, so there was no one else to go to. Theodore’s older brother was a senior, graduating from Stanford with a double major in Computational Neuroscience and Political Science.

John Foster Dulles wrote a letter discussing the launch of the Soviet Union’s launch of the first earth satellite. Sputnik I was launched on October 4, 1957 with a cost of 15 million RUB and remained in orbit of the Earth until January 4, 1958. Although it traveled about 70 million kilometers, it did nothing for the people below it. In his letter, he states that while Sputnik is of “considerable technical and scientific importance,” it does not involve any discovery. Additionally, sending humans and animals to outer space, a huge goal of both parties during the Space Race, was rather a fascination than a benefit. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey to outer space on April 12, 1961. He became an international celebrity by completing an orbit around the Earth, but he didn’t discover a basic fact about outer space; his journey was merely a stunt. Similarly, Neil Armstrong may have walked the moon first, but it was just an incredible act with no helpful discovery

Within his address, Reagan expresses his condolences to the families of the crew and reminds everyone that “we’re still pioneers” despite that “we’ve grown used to the idea of space.” Notably, he spoke to

Kennedy played a major role in creating NASA and winning the Space Race. He persuaded Congress to fund space exploration which lead to the United States winning the Space Race and eventually NASA made many life changing discoveries that contributed so much knowledge and wisdom to science. Now we have a much better grasp on the outer space and the unknown. On September 12, 1962 at the Rice Stadium, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech that ignited and generated new-found excitement in the American people. Those who were previously against the funding of space exploration were now touched by Kennedy’s speech and were determined to discover more about outer space. In his speech Kennedy quoted George Mallory, a famous mountaineer. “Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there. "Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.” Kennedy’s determination and leadership excited and interested the American people. Now there were not as many people against space

The Space Race Started in 1959 when sputnik 1 was launched into space. This worried all of the American people because they then believed that Soviets could drop a nuclear warhead on America at any given time. The United States then joined the race in January of 1958. The Americans were just barely behind the Soviets. The Soviet Union then sent Luna 1, the first man made object to orbit the sun, into space. Luna 3 then orbits the moon and takes pictures of 70% of its surface before returning to Earth. In 1961 Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth becoming not only the first Soviet in space but more importantly he becomes the first man in space. Alan Shepard, a navy officer from New Hampshire, becomes the first American in space. Once again The Americans are behind the Russians. This all changes 20 days later when President Kennedy makes his famous proclamation to America and says that they will make it to the moon by the end of the decade. The Space race was

This federal agency was “responsible for the aerospace research and the civilian space program.”2 The space race heats up, as the soviet unions become the first to put a man in space, “ Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter earths orbit, in a single- pilot spacecraft called Vostok I,”2 however, America is not far behind; a month later Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Because of back and fourth success, US president John F. Kennedy announces “ the inauguration of the Apollo program, which pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.”2 After years of experiment, test flight, and training “ the Apollo 11 spacecraft was launched into space on July 26, 1969;” 3 in the spacecraft included astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Four days later “The Eagle” landed on the moon; Neil Armstrong stepped outside and became the first man to walk on the moon. The United States had taken a huge lead in the space race with the Apollo programs, and the relations between the Soviet Union began to thaw.

In Russia, Yuri Gagarin was chosen to be the first man in space. He would go in the rocket Vostok 1. On April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 was launched, Everything went successfully when he was launched into space and orbiting the Earth until he was ready to come back. The cables that were connected to the rocket were supposed to detach but they did not. He was spinning like crazy until they burned off from Earth’s orbit and he came back fine. In the U.S., Alan Shepard on the Freedom 7 successfully went into space and nothing went wrong. About a month later, John F . Kennedy was elected. He announced plans to go to the moon and Project Gemini was established. In the USSR Korolev launched Vostok 2 with Gherman Titov in it. He was in space for 25 hours and the first to take photos in space. He suffered from space adaptation syndrome and had to abort the mission. On his way down he almost hit a train but he did not and made it back safely. In the U.S. in 1962, John Glenn was put in space for 5 hours and made it down fine. Russia put a woman in space to prove equality between men and women. Soon, U.S. put Luna 9 on the moon, the first time on the moon. Suddenly, Korolev suffered a heart attack and died so his identity was

Space has many wonderful sites. I have always wanted to go into space and explore its wonders. Neil Armstrong showed us the way of success. Because of Neil Armstrong, we are now able to allow more people to go into space. His work persuaded people never to give up. He also motivated people with his influential quote, "That's one small step for man, one giant step for mankind." Once Armstrong stepped on the moon he said these words. Which changed the course of

have made it to space, but his extensive knowledge of the ins and outs of the spacecraft