Challenger Disaster

Challenger Disaster, the accident that destroyed the United States space shuttle Challenger 73 seconds after take-off from the Kennedy Space Center on January 28, 1986. The crew—Mission commander Francis R. Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka and Judith A. Resnick, and payload specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher from New Hampshire—died in the accident.

Following the incident, President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission headed by a former secretary of state, William Rogers, and a former astronaut, Neil Armstrong, to investigate the cause of the accident and to develop corrective measures based on the results of their findings. The commission found fault with a failed sealant ring and with decision-makers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), who allowed the launch to take place despite concerns voiced by NASA engineers.

The commission's report stated that the disaster was caused by the failure of an “O-ring” seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the shuttle's right side. The seal's faulty design and the unusually cold weather, which affected the seal's proper functioning, allowed hot gases to leak through the joint. Flames from inside the booster rocket escaped through the failed seal and enlarged the small hole. The flames then burned through the shuttle's external fuel tank and cut away one of the supports that attached the booster to the side of the external tank. The booster broke loose and collided with the tank, piercing the tank's side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, causing the shuttle to tear apart.

The Shuttle launch programme was halted during the commission's investigation until shuttle designers had made several technical modifications and NASA management had implemented stricter regulations regarding quality control and safety. Shuttle missions resumed on September 28, 1988, with the flight of the shuttle Discovery. However, the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003 once more led to a period of temporary uncertainty.

See Space Exploration: Current and Future Programmes.