Space Shuttle

January 28, 1986, seven brave people boarded the Challenger space shuttle. All of America sat around their televisions watching and waiting for the space shuttle to finally lift off. One of the seven people aboard this shuttle was Christa McAuliffe, a teacher in the Teachers in Space program and would have been the first civilian to go into space. Her students were invited to come to NASA and watch. The engines roar sounded loudly and the shuttle finally left the ground. It was an illuminating sight

Shuttle Challenger Disaster In March, 1970, President Richard Milhous Nixon “opted for the shuttle-tended space base as a long-range goal but deferred going ahead with the space station pending development of the shuttle vehicle” (NASA,1986). Thus the Space Shuttle, which was considered as merely the transport element of a broad earlier, was reused and became the concentration of NASA's near- term future. Challenger, as NASA’s second orbiter which was put into service after Columbia in Space Shuttle

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

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was just coming in for re-entry after being in space for almost a month, when it had spontaneously exploded over Texas. The seven crew members on the shuttle had lost their lives and an unforgettable image is burned into the memory of the American people. I will be discussing mainly about how USA Today has covered the disaster and provide examples as to how the agency makes it seem as though NASA was the one responsible for the disaster and how the

The case study I chose to analyze was the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion by Ronald C. Kramer. Kramer discussed four main components that led to the catastrophic explosion. These components include the societal context, the final flaw, the persons behind the final decision to launch, and lastly the failure of social control mechanisms. There was not just one factor that led to the failure of the launch. As Kramer discusses the different concepts that led to the failure point to state-corporate

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

It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. History: Columbia was named after the American sloop Columbia Rediviva which, from 1787 to 1793, under the command of Captain Robert Gray, explored the US Pacific Northwest and became

Technology Operation of space craft In order to launch a spacecraft, detailed calculations must be made to predict the spacecraft destination, timing of launch and speed to meet the target in space. The gravitational pull of other planets and the sun need to be taken into account. This gravity can also be used by the spacecraft to do a swing by or to be pulled into orbit. The Space Shuttle is the world's first reusable spacecraft, and the first spacecraft in history that can carry large satellites

re-entry of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Then Jason saw a bright flash out of the corner of his eye and saw the shuttle looking as if it were a comet shooting through the atmosphere. Jason took out his camera to record it. When he zoomed it look like there were fire balls around it. That is when the fireballs spread out he realized the shuttle had burned up. “This is why I don’t want you to become an astronaut,” Jason’s mom said. Jason has always had a passion to be an astronaut and go to space, but when

The space shuttle's components include: the orbiter, three main engines, the external tank, and two solid rocket boosters. Altogether, the launch weight is about 4.5 million pounds. Orbiter: Each orbiter is 121 feet long, with a wingspan of 78 feet and a tail height of 57 feet. Constructed mainly of aluminum, it is about the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner, and can carry a payload of 65,000 pounds into space. The payload bay is 60 feet long and 15 feet in diameter. The landing weight varies from