Posted on 01/28/2019 1:31:02 PM PST by SMGFan
Why is old news being rehashed here? When the event happened, we learned that the rubber rings failed because of the temperature, yet the PTB forced the Go Ahead with the launch in spite of extreme protests from the engineers. Very old news.
They were alive. I knew a couple of the Navy salvage divers who found the crew cabin and the investigation showed ample evidence the crew was alive until impact. Everything was buried and sealed in an unused silo and the records of the findings by the divers and investigators was tossed in a locked drawer.
IIRC, Feymann was given some info from insiders who knew about the problem, but were afraid of risking their careers over it.
State of the Union Address was scheduled for that evening.
They desperately wanted Reagan to be able to point up and talk about our brave men and women in space.
I hope Ronaldus Magnus never made that connection, it would have horrified him beyond anything.
95 year old Yeager tweeted this today the anniversary date.
From wikipedia: “The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and recovery operation. The exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown; several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. The shuttle had no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment at terminal velocity with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.”
Had there been a crew compartment parachute or drogue speed reduction chute to slow the speed, and they not hit the water at 200 mph— several crew would have possibly survived.
Thankfully Bill Nelson is NO LONGER Senator from FL. When he was a congressman, his actions during the disaster (and these actions are documented, btw) made certain the true story of the last seconds of our astronauts were not publicly released. The “known to have survived the explosion” comment in wikipedia is unsourced, but did leak out of NASA.
His actions, specifically involved garbage bags of recovered remains (including those still inside a space helmet, for Onizuka), delivering these to the Patrick AFB med section, and not the Brevard County Coroner’s office, which FL law requires— at the time of recovery.
Looking for the original Miami Herald article— which is quite damning on Nelson’s protection of his nest egg NASA and contractors—. There is this revealing summary from the WaPo in 1988:
Here is from 1988 follow up article and Congressional hearing on the matter:
“As I recall, two Morton Thiokol engineers were arguing against a launch as it was too cold outside.”
that’s one of the things i remember too ... they knew the giant casing junction O-rings wouldn’t perform properly in those temperature conditions, would fail, and the combustion in the solid rocket casings would not be contained at the casing junctions sealed by those O-rings,but instead would burn through the casings ...
A tragic day
Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who did go up that time, was from New Hampshire (originally Massachusetts).
I was working in Saudi then and remember American-educated Saudi Engineers hi-fiving each other with glee. Saudis are not our friends.
Tom
He is still alive. He is 95.
The original design had provisions to use pyrotechnics to separate the crew capsule from the bulk of the shuttle, that option was removed as it was thought the the risk of having pyrotechnics was greater than the benefit of having that provision for the small fraction of the flight where it would be needed.
And the parachutes that were part of the system?
They were removed as well, they were quite heavy and at $10,000/kg to orbit, and given that there was simply no way they'd be needed without being able to separate the crew compartment...
And yes, the crew survived the disintegration of the shuttle, several emergency oxygen packs were manually activated on the way down and one first aid kit was broken into.
*sigh*
Exactly right. I watched it live on TV and the memory still chills me. I recall that in follow-up reporting it became clear the launch decision was made mainly for PR reasons even though the risk was known. NASA didn't want any more delays because they might affect the Shuttle appropriations from Congress. Very bad decision!
My understanding is that the "offending chemical compound" in the original O-rings was Asbestos.
It was a bunch of insane lunacy for the nation to hyperventilate about Asbestos during this period.
I think a better way of putting it is "The stuff that made the original seal design work correctly was Asbestos."
Utter lunacy about Asbestos going on at that time. It was a result of trying to be politically correct that they insisted on removing Asbestos from the seals.
Asbestos seals would have prevented the disaster.
I remember it was a cool crisp sunny day and I had just returned from a farm call after delivering a calf. I hadn’t even turned on the radio. I returned to the clinic and my partner was returning from a farm call and had been listening to the radio and told me to hurry up and turn on the TV and we watched the aftermath. Another day etched within a memory.
Brings back sad memories of this Free republic thread.
[AP SCOOP] Space Shuttle Columbia Will Be Visible In San Francisco Area (6AM Pacific)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833885/posts
My family members worked on the Space Shuttle in Downey, CA from its start. The Challenger crash was very discouraging. Engineers reverse engineer rockets hundreds of ways. The Challenger was pushed by workers doing double shifts and lacking sleep. The O rings were defective and pushed through. The engineers were completely discouraged. President Reagan gave an excellent speech. And those darn O ring manufacturers were taking the brunt. Everyone wants precision and exactitude.
I was pulling asst. CQ duty at my unit at Ft. Lewis. I was walking down the hall and heard a radio going with what sounded like a live report, and the words “Shuttle accident”. I turned around and went to the day room, and all the lieutenants were gathered around the TV, watching the report. When they replayed the launch and explosion, one of the LT’s looked at me and said I’d turned white as a sheet.
For a space fan like me, it was a BAD day....
Holy cow - Thanks - I thought he had passed on. Appreciate the correction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.