Space Shuttle STS-51L Launch (www.shuttlesource.com)

[MrBennetzen]

I see simularities between the decision making that led to the sinking of Titanic on April 15th, 1912 and the decisions that led to the STS-51L Challenger Disaster on January 28th, 1986. Both those decisions led to predictable suprises. The reason is that people thought on both situations that we can get away with anything with their vehicles until it comes back to haunt them whether it is ship sinking with over 1500 people lost or a multi-billion dollar explosion on national television.

[heartlessvietboy]

Of course you gotta find out what happened. The good to that ,is that, if we find out what happened, maybe we can prevent it from happening again. But how about using our ideas to prevent any loss of life.  Why not use a computer operated space rocket? Then a smaller rocket for our astronauts.

[ncjonson]

In mission control the PAO is Steve Nesbitt

[MasterUltrax]

i'm glad we've got brave people like these to advance humanity. rest in peace, you are heroes!

[subsitor]

R.I.P.

[stampede122]

ill second that

[GhostsonAcid]

"Do you know how much it costs to build one of those?!.. Damn you KIDS!!!"

[airdriver]

"Obviously a major malfunction."

That's my nomination for the understatement of the 20th Century, bar none.

[eRaserB]

whats that at 1.43-45 ? The Shuttle?

[sammy2089]

Thats one of the Solid Rocket Boosters, The Shuttle was already destroyed, only the crew cabin survived the explosion.

[Broadwaymungo]

Not to be gruesome, but in answer to a previous question: It is a fact that the crew survived the breakup of the vehicle. Emergency Oxygen packs, which have to be activated manually, from the seats, were activated. The postmortems on the crew's remains were consistent with the impact with the water, not the explosion, as the cause of death. For obvious reasons, this information, while not suppressed in any way, was not sensationalized by the media and rightfully so at the time.

[superboydude54]

poor Christa

[MrBennetzen]

How is the Challenger Accident related to the sinking of RMS Titanic?

[timbit2011]

how do they know?

[dellingc]

The emergency oxygen was turned on by hand.

[neotron2002]

The explosion of the shuttle result from an leak from one of the booster rockets. The weather was a factor, because of wind speed cause the booster rocket to flex, in which o-ring inside the rocket fail seal the fuel inside of it.

[Falkirion]

Also the weather overnight played a part in freezing the o-ring so it couldnt preform to spec

[tuver4]

thats bull the shuttle where they where exploded

[RJY4356]

They didn't open up the pad mics very much on this launch, the main engine start sounds really faint in the background, not loud and clear like they do now. Usually the launches sound louder on TV.

[RJY4356]

Until of course, they were DETONATED by the Range Safety Officer 1 minute 49 seconds after launch (36 seconds after the break-up)

[MrBennetzen]

May God be with the Crew of STS-118!

[ibook133]

The SRB actually impacted the ET in such a way from the aerodynamic forces that it ruptured the ET like a balloon popping, which pushed fuel and oxidizer out of the ET which then caught up with the exhaust of the rockets and then it just completely exploded after that, shattering the orbiter into many fragments. One positive note on the tragedy, new stricter launch temperature tolerances were set in place which may have saved the lives of countless star voyagers after the loss of these few.

[BigBill783]

Yes its true the crew compartment remained intact until impact with the water some 2 mins later. The crew appears to have survived the explosion but the impact took its toll. Without getting too morbid.

[kingnor2]

i've heard that the crew compartment most likely survived the explosion, chilling stuff. something like a 4-5 minute fall from that height.

[upinfection]

if there was cockpit cameras in STS-8 AND 7 Y ISENT THERE IN CHALLENGER? not only that a few ppl wanted to get a good look at challenger but they couldent....a deer arm ''hit a tank on the et and we colosed it off''

[ic0lh1b00]

There probably was, but I doubt that NASA would release something so sensitive.

[OidSchwarz]

RIP

:[

[BigBrotherMateyka]

Rest in peace, brave souls. You shall not be forgotten.

[zanekun]

OMG