50 Fun Facts About Challenger Disaster

On what date did the Challenger disaster occur?

It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft in flight.

How many seconds into its flight did Challenger break apart?

The vehicle was at about 46,000 feet over the Atlantic, travelling at Mach 1.92.

What was the mission designation of Challenger's final flight?

It was the orbiter's tenth flight and the 25th of the Shuttle programme.

What component failed in the right solid rocket booster?

Record-low temperatures stiffened the rubber rings so they could not seal a field joint.

Which company manufactured the solid rocket boosters?

Its engineers had proposed a redesigned field joint in 1985, and new casings were on order.

In which US state were the booster segments manufactured?

Each SRB came in four main sections joined at Kennedy with tang-and-clevis field joints.

The O-rings were made of which rubber?

Each field joint carried two rings 20 feet in diameter and just 0.28 inches thick.

Who commanded the STS-51-L mission?

Smith was the pilot; Onizuka, Judith Resnik and McNair were mission specialists.

Which teacher flew on Challenger under the Teacher in Space Project?

She was chosen from more than 11,000 applicants and planned to teach two lessons from orbit.

Where did the Teacher in Space honoree teach social studies from 1983?

She had designed her own course called 'The American Woman'.

Which payload specialist flew to conduct research for Hughes Aircraft?

The seven-member crew included two payload specialists and three mission specialists.

What satellite was STS-51-L meant to deploy?

A tracking and data relay satellite; its replacement, TDRS-3, flew on the return-to-flight mission in 1988.

Which comet's passage was the crew scheduled to observe?

They planned to deploy and retrieve a Spartan satellite as it neared the Sun.

Dust storms at which emergency landing site caused one of the launch delays?

NASA switched to Casablanca as the alternate, but its runway lacked lighting, limiting launch times.

What halted the January 27 countdown at T-9 minutes?

By the time it was removed, high winds closed the window and the launch slipped a day.

Which CBS anchor called the bolt delay 'high-tech low comedy'?

Media ridicule of the postponements was later cited as a pressure on NASA to launch.

Below what temperature did the booster engineers say they lacked data on O-ring sealing?

That was the previous coldest launch; the forecast for the morning was far below it.

Which NASA booster manager asked whether Thiokol expected him to wait until April?

He demanded a signed recommendation to launch and did not mention the O-ring debate to his superiors.

Which Thiokol director at Kennedy refused to sign off on the launch decision?

Joe Kilminster signed and faxed the recommendation from Utah instead.

What was the air temperature when Challenger was finally cleared to launch?

Overnight readings had the right booster at 8 °F, but booster temperature was not a launch criterion.

Why was the launch held an extra hour on the morning of January 28?

Water left running to stop pipes freezing had formed ice down the fixed service structure.

Which company's engineers argued pad ice made the launch unsafe?

Rocco Petrone's team feared ice striking the orbiter; Kennedy and Johnson engineers disagreed.

From which pad did Challenger launch on its final mission?

The return-to-flight mission, STS-26, lifted off from the same pad in 1988.

How many puffs of dark smoke escaped the right booster in the first seconds of flight?

They came from the aft field joint as it rotated at ignition; aluminium oxides then briefly resealed it.

What were the last words transmitted from Challenger on the air-to-ground loop?

Commander Scobee was answering CapCom Richard Covey's 'Challenger, go at throttle up'.

Who was the CapCom who said 'Challenger, go at throttle up'?

The main engines had just throttled up to 104 percent.

Which NASA public affairs officer said 'Obviously a major malfunction'?

He was initially unaware of the explosion and kept reading flight data.

What did flight director Jay Greene order in Mission Control after the breakup?

Phones were shut down and terminals frozen to preserve data.

Which network carried the launch and explosion live nationally?

Many schools watched because of the Teacher in Space Project; other networks cut in afterwards.

Which two ships were first sent to recover debris after the accident?

They were the booster recovery ships; the Navy's USS Preserver joined the deep search in February.

Which Navy submarine helped confirm the damaged field joint on the seabed in April 1986?

The joint was recovered on April 13 from a depth of about 560 feet.

Where is almost all recovered non-organic Challenger debris buried?

A 12-foot fuselage section is displayed at the Kennedy visitor complex's 'Forever Remembered' exhibit.

What speech did President Reagan postpone on the evening of the disaster?

He spoke to the nation from the Oval Office instead and attended a Houston memorial on January 31.

Who chaired the presidential commission that investigated the accident?

It was formed on February 6, 1986, and reported on June 6.

Which Apollo astronaut served as vice chairman of the Rogers Commission?

Chuck Yeager and Sally Ride were also members.

How did Richard Feynman demonstrate the O-ring problem at a televised hearing?

The Nobel laureate showed the rubber lost its elasticity when cold.

Feynman's dissenting observations appeared in which part of the Rogers report?

He threatened to remove his name unless his views on reliability were included.

Which commission panel did Sally Ride chair?

Donald Kutyna led accident analysis; she was the only Shuttle astronaut on the commission.

In what year had in-flight O-ring erosion first been seen, on STS-2?

Test data since 1977 had shown the joint could rotate and weaken the seal.

Which January 1985 mission, the coldest launch to date, showed O-ring erosion in both boosters?

The calculated O-ring temperature that day was 53 °F.

What did the redesigned booster joint add to prevent rotation?

Heaters were also installed to keep the O-rings warm; the new motor was first tested in August 1987.

Which orbiter was built to replace Challenger?

Approved in 1987, it first flew in May 1992 on STS-49.

How long was the Shuttle fleet grounded after the disaster?

Discovery's STS-26 returned the programme to flight on September 29, 1988.

Which orbiter flew the return-to-flight mission STS-26 in 1988?

Its five veteran astronauts wore pressure suits for ascent and reentry, a new rule.

Who was the backup Teacher in Space who finally flew on STS-118?

She became a full mission specialist under the Educator Astronaut Project that replaced the programme in 1998.

What new escape option did NASA add after the disaster?

It would not have helped during ascent, but lets crews slide clear of the wing before parachuting.

The orbiter lost in 1986 began life as what?

STA-099 proved cheaper to upgrade for flight than the prototype Enterprise.

Challenger was named after a British ship that led which 1870s undertaking?

HMS Challenger's 1872–76 voyage founded modern oceanography; Apollo 17's lunar module shared the name.

Which 1986 film was dedicated to the Challenger crew in its opening titles?

The message wished their spirit to 'live to the 23rd century and beyond'.

Which crew member had planned to record a saxophone part in orbit for a Jean-Michel Jarre album?

It would have been the first piece of music recorded in space; Onizuka's soccer ball later flew to the ISS.