It’s been 40 years since the Challenger’s mission tragedy that happened on January 28th, 1986. The Challenger’s space shuttle broke apart after only 73 seconds in the air killing all 7 crew members.
This was a horrific tragedy. How could such a horrific thing happen at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Adminnistration)? What went wrong? And, was it avoidable?
Well, the main thing that went wrong was the O-rings and the weather. An O-ring is a ring made from rubber that is used to secure things and make them leakproof. These were used on the rocket, What went wrong was due to the rubber becoming brittle when exposed to extreme cold, they couldn’t properly seal allowing gas to blow by the seal. The weather hitting below freezing temperatures the night before also went wrong on this mission. But with the temperature being so cold especially that day, couldn’t they have simply moved it to another day?
Richard Feynman, member of the investigation commission even said:
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
It was avoidable if they had actually paid attention to what this would actually result. The mission had already been rescheduled multiple times before and due to the immense amount of political pressure, President Ronald Regan intended to give his State of the Union address that day and was planning to talk about the mission and how a teacher is on board. It was also being streamed to millions of students across the country. The two engineers who were in charge of designing it (Bob Ebeling and Roger Biosoly ) knew it was likely to explode and did everything they could to try to stop it, but higher-ups didn’t understand the severity of this situation. So, yes, it was 100% avoidable.
“The decision to launch the Challenger was flawed,” the Rogers Commission.
As this tragedy has been around for 40 years the lessons one can learn are big. By ignoring warnings, sometime people put themselves in more danger and less ease. In all walks of life, a red flag, a gut feeling, and even a spaceship should be listened for any warnings and taken seriously.
