That day, he was memorized as one of the most sad and thought -provoking days in the history of humanity. NASA’s Challenger space shuttle exploded only 73 seconds after its launch.
This was not only the failure of a space mission, but also a tragedy that questioned the end of technological progress and the price of human flaw. So, what were the reasons behind this disaster? What was learned?
A module of NASA’s space program: Challenger space shuttle.
Challenger space shuttle has been performing successful duties since 1983. This task, called STS-51-L, was the tenth flight of the shuttle.
One particular part of the mission was that Christa Mcauliffe, who would be the first civilian teacher in space, was also involved in the crew. Mcauliffe was planning to teach his students from space, which was a great opportunity to increase the people’s interest in the space program.
The crew also included commander Francis R. Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith and duty experts Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNAİR, Ellison S. Onizuka and Gregory B. Jarvis.
But the shuttle launched at 11.38 with the eastern time, was torn apart after 73 seconds.
What were the causes of disaster?
The main reason for the Challenger disaster was the loss of flexibility of the gaskets called O-Ring in solid fuel rockets in cold weather conditions.
On the day of the launch, there was an unusual cold morning in Florida, the temperature fell below the freezing point, and the ability of O-rings to ensure the leakage of O-rings had weakened. During the launch, hot gases began to infiltrate the O-ring, which led to the explosion of the fuel tank.
However, the human factor behind the disaster as well as this technical error played a major role. The engineers had brought their concerns about the O-rings before the launch, but these warnings were not taken seriously by the administration.
NASA’s intensive program pressure and the desire to keep the people’s attention alive caused the rest of the security measures. This has clearly revealed the deficiencies in corporate culture and the misconceptions in decision -making processes.
The Challenger disaster was a major breaking point in NASA’s space program.
Following the incident, the flights of space shuttles were stopped for 32 months and NASA’s security protocols were reviewed again.
An investigation board, called the Rogers Commission, examined the causes of the disaster in a detailed form and drew attention to administrative mistakes as well as technical mistakes in his report.
Bored by the unknown answers of the witnesses, Nobel Prize -winning physicist Richard Feynman fell into a bomb for a bomb. Feynman performed an improvised experiment, and dipped a module of the O-ring material in a glass of ice water, showing how he lost all his flexibility at low temperatures, and thus all the doubts about the technical details have disappeared.
Feynman’s word was the unforgettable of this case. Compared to him, Nasa played Russian roulette with the lives of astronauts.
The tragedy contained precious lessons not only for NASA, but for all humanity.
First of all, it was understood once again that security should not be thrown into the second plan for the sake of technological progress. Secondly, the open connection and transparency of transparency was emphasized in corporate culture. The fact that the voices of the engineers were not heard was one of the most painful aspects of the disaster.
Since then, NASA has been organizing the day of commemoration for Challenger’s crew and other crew for other crew. In addition, the families and students of the crew, the Challenger Space Science Training Center by establishing an educational heritage.
