What Was The Effect Of The Space Shuttle Challenger Essays

What Was The Effect of The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster on NASA and the Future of the United States Space Program? This was the major question proposed during the late 1980's. What was the future of NASA going to be after this terrible disaster? Would there be enough funding for the continuation of the United States Space Program? This Challenger explosion was one of the major catastrophes of the entire Space Program since the beginning of funding for the Space Program was started. It seems, out of all the mistakes that NASA and the United States government has ever made, this one made a lasting impression on many Americans, and foreign authority figures all over the world. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a major tragedy. However, it was a tragedy that could have been prevented with a closer inspection of one of the shuttle's parts that had been of concern since the entire Space Shuttle Program had been started; the O-Ring. Inside the Solid Rocket Booster, there exists certain seals which were the rubber O-rings. The objective of the O-rings is to act as a seal that is meant to prevent gases from escaping through the Solid Rocket Booster. One of the main reasons for the explosion was that O-ring "flexed" and let the gases escape, which in less than seconds later, caught fire and created the explosion. Among the other minor problems were those of electrical problems and faulty gages which were just "overlooked" because the problems were only minor and they posed no real threat to the safety of the mission or the crew of seven(7). 11:39:17am, Tuesday, January 28th, 1986. As the Space Shuttle Challenger soared into the sky that morning, 74 seconds into flight, it exploded, killing all 7 crew members on board including one High-School teacher. This was the worst accident in the history of the U.S. Space Program. It was witnessed by thousands of spectators and visitors who watched at the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded before their eyes. Among the crew killed were: Francis R. Scobee, Commander; Michael J. Smith, Pilot; Judith A. Resnick, Electrical Engineer; Ellison S. Onizuka, Engineer; Ronald E. McNair, Physicist; Gregory R. Jarvis, Electrical Engineer; Christa McAuliffe, High-School teacher. For most of the crew, it was just an ordinary mission with the exception of the school teacher. For Christa McAuliffe, it was everything out of the ordinary. She was the one out of many applicants that had the opportunity to ride in the Space Shuttle to help teach children all over the country about the experiments she was going to accomplish in space. As the spectators at Kennedy Space Center watched, everyone was in disbelief including many of the technicians inside the control room communicating with Francis Scobee, the Commander of the Shuttle Challenger. This experience is best described through a passage between Challenger and the Control Room which occurred as this: "Challenger lifted off...and passed Mach One, the speed of sound, at 19,000 feet. The computers throttled back the three main engines to 65 percent of thrust, anticipating the stress that the engineers call Max-Q, maximum aerodynamic pressure. 'Okay, we're throttling down,' Scobee reassured his crew as the thrust dropped. For fourteen seconds they swayed and jolted silently in their seats while the shuttle chopped through wind shear. 'Throttling up', Scobee called, watching the bright lines of his flight data screen. 'Throttle up', Smith confirmed from his own instruments 'Roger', Dick Scobee formally acknowledged. 'Feel that mother go', Smith called, noting the violent surge of power. As the Challenger climbed, its computers processed millions of bits of data, sifting, sorting, and sending it down to the Cape where it was instantly re- transmitted to the Mission Control Room at Johnson Space Center in Texas. Inside the control room, the technicians saw that the Challenger's engines had returned normally to full thrust, and that the ascent was proceeding perfectly. CAPCOM Richard Covey hunched at his console, his face tight with concentration. 'Challenger",... "go at throttle up." On Challenger's noisy flight deck, Commander Scobee punched his transmit button and replied, 'Roger, go at throttle up.' It was exactly seventy seconds after lift-off. The Shuttle was near 50,000 feet...but in the next three seconds Challenger slammed through increasingly violent maneuvers. Mike Smith voiced sudden apprehension. 'Uh-oh.' In Mission Control, the pulsing digits on the screens abruptly stopped. At the top of each console screen, a frozen while "S" was now centered. Static, no down-link. Challenger was dead. Mission Control spokesman Steve Nesbit sat...he stared around the silent, softly lit