Disaster and Aftermath
On January 28, 1986, McAuliffe boarded Space Shuttle Challenger with the other six crew members of STS-51-L. Just 72 seconds into its flight at an altitude of 48,000 feet, Challenger broke apart, leading to the deaths of all seven crew members. According to NASA, it was in part because of the excitement over McAuliffe's presence on Challenger that the accident had such a significant effect on the nation. Many schoolchildren were viewing the launch live, and media coverage of the accident was extensive.
The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident—also known as the Rogers Commission—was formed to investigate the disaster. It determined that the accident was due to a failure of rubber O-rings made by Morton Thiokol that provided a pressure seal in the aft field joint of the shuttle's right Solid Rocket Booster. The failure of the O-rings was attributed to a design flaw, as their performance could be too easily compromised by factors that included the low temperature on the day of launch. The Commission found that O-ring resiliency is directly related to temperature and due to the low temperature at launch—36 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 degrees lower than the next coldest previous launch—it was probable the O-rings had not provided a proper seal.
Barbara Morgan, McAuliffe's backup, became a professional astronaut in January 1998 and flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-118, to the International Space Station, on August 8, 2007, aboard Endeavour, the orbiter that replaced Challenger.
Read more about this topic: Christa McAuliffe
Famous quotes containing the words disaster and/or aftermath:
“When disaster waves, I try not to wave back.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)