Challenger disaster
was an accident that destroyed the United States space shuttle
73 seconds after takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center on January
28, 1986. The crew-mission commander Francis R. Scobee; pilot
Michael J. Smith; mission specialists Ronald E. McNair, Ellison
S. Onizuka, and Judith A. Resnick; and payload specialists Gregory
B. Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from
New Hampshire-died in the accident. Following the incident,
President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission to investigate
the cause of the accident and to develop corrective measures
based on the commission's findings.
The commission was headed by former secretary of
state William Rogers and included former astronaut Neil Armstrong
and former test pilot Chuck Yeager. It found fault with a failed
sealant ring and with the officials at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) who allowed the launch to take place
despite concerns voiced by NASA engineers.
According to the commission's report, the disaster
was caused by the failure of an "O-ring" seal in the solid-fuel
rocket on the shuttle's right side. The seal's faulty design and
the unusually cold weather, which affected the seal's functioning,
allowed hot gases to leak through the joint. Flames from inside
the booster rocket escaped through the failed seal and enlarged
the small hole. The flames then burned through the shuttle's external
fuel tank and through one of the supports that attached the booster
to the side of the tank. The booster broke loose and collided with
the tank, piercing the tank's side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, causing the shuttle
to tear apart. The shuttle launch program was halted during the
commission's investigation and was not resumed until shuttle designers
made several technical modifications and NASA management implemented
stricter regulations regarding quality control and safety. Shuttle
missions resumed on September 28, 1988, with the flight of the shuttle
Discovery.
