January 28, 2016

"Challenger, go at throttle up." President Reagan's Challenger Disaster Speech - 1/28/86

"Less than 5 hours after the accident. I had forgotten he cancelled his State of the Union Address and instead did this, 30 years ago today." -- Drew @ Ace

President Reagan: "I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute. We’ll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: “Your dedication and professionalism have moved an impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.”"

"Obviously a major malfunction"

The Challenger Accident | Timeline

T+67.650

The abnormal plumes on the bottom and top of the booster appear to merge into one. This means the flame has wrapped around the joint as the leak deteriorated.

T+67.684

Telemetry indicates falling pressure in the 17-inch-wide liquid oxygen propellant lines feeding the three main engines.

T+68.000

Nesbitt: "Engines are throttling up. Three engines now at 104 percent."

Covey: "Challenger, go at throttle up."

T+70.000

Scobee, air-to-ground: "Roger, go at throttle up."

T+72.204

Data shows divergent up and down motions of the nozzles at the base of both solid rocket boosters.

T+72.284

The two solid rocket boosters change position relative to each other, indicating the right-side booster apparently has pulled away from one of the struts that connected its aft end to the external fuel tank. TV tracking camera: A large ball of orange fire appears higher on the other side of main fuel tank, closer to Challenger's cabin, and grows rapidly.

T+72.478

A "major high rate actuator command" is recorded from one of the boosters, indicating extreme nozzle motions.

T+72.497

The nozzles of the three liquid-fueled main engines begin moving at high rates: Five degrees per second.

T+72.525

Data shows a sudden lateral acceleration to the right jolts the shuttle with a force of .227 times normal gravity. This may have been felt by the crew.

T+72.564

Start of liquid hydrogen pressure decrease. Solid rocket boosters continue showing high nozzle motion rates.

T+72.624

Challenger beams back what turns out to be its final navigation update.

T+72.964

Main engine liquid oxygen propellant pressures begin falling sharply at turbopump inlets.

T+73.000 (approximate)

Smith, intercom: "Uh oh..." This is the last comment captured by the crew cabin intercom recorder. Smith may have been responding to indications on main engine performance or falling pressures in the external fuel tank.

T+74.587

A bright flash is observed in the vicinity of the orbiter's nose. Television tracking camera closeup: The nose of the shuttle and the crew compartment suddenly engulfed in brilliant orange flame, presumably caused by ignition or burning of rocket fuel in the forward reaction control system steering jet pod.

"At that point in its trajectory, while traveling at a Mach number of 1.92 (twice the speed of sound) at an altitude of 46,000 feet, the Challenger was totally enveloped in the explosive burn," said the Rogers Commission report. "The Orbiter, under severe aerodynamic loads, broke into several large sections which emerged from the fireball. Separate sections that can be identified on film include the main engine/tail section with the engines still burning, one wing of the Orbiter, and the forward fuselage trailing a mass of umbilical lines pulled loose from the payload bay."

The nose section had ripped away from the payload bay cleanly, although a mass of electrical cables and umbilicals were torn from the cargo hold, fluttering behind the crew cabin as it shot through the thin air, still climbing. Challenger's fuselage was suddenly open like a tube with its top off. Still flying at twice the speed of sound, the resulting rush of air that filled the payload bay overpressurized the structure and it broke apart from the inside out, disintegrating in flight. Challenger's wings cartwheeled away on their own but the aft engine compartment held together, falling in one large piece toward the Atlantic Ocean, its engines on fire. The TDRS satellite in Challenger's cargo bay and its solid-fuel booster rocket were blown free as was the Spartan-Halley spacecraft. All this happened as the external tank gave up its load of propellant, which ignited in the atmosphere in what appeared to be an explosion. It was more of a sudden burning than an explosion. In any case, the two solid rockets emerged from the fireball of burning fuel and continued on, bereft of guidance from the shuttle's now-silent flight computers.

T+74.587

A bright flash is observed in the vicinity of the orbiter's nose. Television tracking camera closeup: The nose of the shuttle and the crew compartment suddenly engulfed in brilliant orange flame, presumably caused by ignition or burning of rocket fuel in the forward reaction control system steering jet pod.

"At that point in its trajectory, while traveling at a Mach number of 1.92 (twice the speed of sound) at an altitude of 46,000 feet, the Challenger was totally enveloped in the explosive burn," said the Rogers Commission report. "The Orbiter, under severe aerodynamic loads, broke into several large sections which emerged from the fireball. Separate sections that can be identified on film include the main engine/tail section with the engines still burning, one wing of the Orbiter, and the forward fuselage trailing a mass of umbilical lines pulled loose from the payload bay."

The nose section had ripped away from the payload bay cleanly, although a mass of electrical cables and umbilicals were torn from the cargo hold, fluttering behind the crew cabin as it shot through the thin air, still climbing. Challenger's fuselage was suddenly open like a tube with its top off. Still flying at twice the speed of sound, the resulting rush of air that filled the payload bay overpressurized the structure and it broke apart from the inside out, disintegrating in flight. Challenger's wings cartwheeled away on their own but the aft engine compartment held together, falling in one large piece toward the Atlantic Ocean, its engines on fire. The TDRS satellite in Challenger's cargo bay and its solid-fuel booster rocket were blown free as was the Spartan-Halley spacecraft. All this happened as the external tank gave up its load of propellant, which ignited in the atmosphere in what appeared to be an explosion. It was more of a sudden burning than an explosion. In any case, the two solid rockets emerged from the fireball of burning fuel and continued on, bereft of guidance from the shuttle's now-silent flight computers.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 28, 2016 7:09 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Now........ that man was a magnificent LEADER.

Posted by: Hangtown Bob at January 28, 2016 11:23 AM

I just can't. As a Florida girl, I just can't bear it. I can still remember looking up at the horrible, wrong contrails.

A local guy, Mike Reynolds of Jacksonville, was up for the Teacher in Space gig and was passed over for Sally Ride. He was the alternate. He has never gotten over it, either. It haunts him.

All that engineering. All that fail-safe protocol. All that brain-power. All that cold. And someone, somewhere said, "Nah, it'll be fine."

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at January 28, 2016 4:56 PM

"...the crew compartment suddenly engulfed in brilliant orange flame ... fireball..."

No, not just the fuel prematurely burning.
Breaking through its bond of flesh, yearning,
'Twas the crew's single spirit's force
A new bright star on its heavenward course.

Posted by: Howard Nelson at January 28, 2016 6:12 PM

Let's not forget what happened next. The DC filth made it crime to touch the debris that they had rained down on people's private property.

Posted by: Bill Jones at January 28, 2016 7:26 PM

And let's not forget those loved ones left behind. In the musical tears of Ashokan Farewell --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RMNoIzUY-0

and some of its lyrics --
"... My thoughts will return to the sound of your laughter,
The magic of moving as one,
And a time we'll remember long ever after
The moonlight and music and dancing are done.

Will we climb the hills once more?
Will we walk the woods together?
Will I feel you holding me close once again?
Will every song we've sung stay with us forever?
Will you dance in my dreams or my arms until then?
..."
http://www.lyrics.net/lyric/1175072

Posted by: Howard Nelson at January 28, 2016 7:53 PM

O-ring design (including operating temperature & pressure) is a very basic part of engineering a system in which dangerous fluids are kept within pipes. That NASA should have gotten this so wrong is quite unbelievable.

Posted by: Andy Texan at January 28, 2016 8:32 PM

...That NASA should have gotten this so wrong is quite unbelievable...

Not so fast there.
Everything was engineered correctly, as evidenced by the tens of successful flights. Management (not Engineering) forced the issue of the launch occurring in conditions that were outside of design specs (too cold out).
Having said that, I do wish that Engineering had stuck to their principles and refused to participate.

I watched this happen from my back yard in Melbourne, FL.

Posted by: Charlie at January 29, 2016 10:07 AM

Charlie, NPR just released this, after 30 years:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/28/464744781/30-years-after-disaster-challenger-engineer-still-blames-himself

It's horrible to contemplate the poor, good engineer who feels he didn't say enough. Dear man.

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at January 30, 2016 9:32 AM

High Flight
By John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.

"Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God."

---
Cut and pasted with leaking eyes...
God be with you.
tom

Posted by: tomw at January 30, 2016 9:53 AM

Today's 'leader':

The shuttle crashed.
Gotta go, tee time in 25...


Yeah, I doan like'im.

Posted by: tomw at January 30, 2016 9:55 AM

@Charlie

NASA's part in the O-ring design that they got so wrong was not the actual design of the ring but the managerial decision that the operating conditions in which the O-ring was sound could be bypassed.

Posted by: Andy Texan at January 31, 2016 6:39 PM

WE all saw it. True, it wasn't hidden. But why it happened was hidden- namely sabotage. We pay large prices for allowing foreign influence into our country, including the loss of our liberty because of the necessity of enhanced security everywhere.

Posted by: Gerard at February 1, 2016 10:34 AM