![]() That is where the superheated gas leaked through and burned the side of the rocket, starting the chain reaction that would bring the shuttle down.Įngineers at the company that made the O-rings, Morton Thiokol, said they tried to warn their bosses the night before the launch that the seals could be brittle because of the cold and needed to be replace. The rings – called O-rings – meant to seal the segments of the booster had failed to do their job in the right-side solid rocket booster. The official report of the accident lists weather only as a contributing factor. Many blamed the cold weather in Florida that day for the problem, saying the rings that helped seal the tank joints were not made to be used in weather so cold. The official report concluded that a leak in the solid rocket booster joint allowed superheated gas to escape and burn through the external tank, causing the collapse of the tank. The shuttle pieces struck the ocean surface at 200 times the force gravity, ''far in excess of the structural limits of the crew compartment or crew survivability levels,'' a NASA report later read. The shuttle, having lost the other two fuel tanks, was at the mercy of physics and was quickly torn apart by aerodynamic forces.Ĭhallenger, now in pieces, began its fall back to Earth, hitting the Atlantic Ocean at 207 mph some two minutes and 45 seconds after the breakup. The craft continued its upward trajectory, reaching 65,000 feet about 25 seconds later. The shuttle was 46,000 feet in the air when the accident happened, traveling at twice the speed of sound. Seconds later it was clear what everyone had seen was not what was supposed to happen, and NASA commentator Steve Nesbitt alerted those listening to the tragedy when he said, "Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. The tank was ripped away from the body of the shuttle and it spun wildly out of the sky.Īt first, Johnson Space Center officials in Houston were not aware of what happened and continued the routine of relaying trajectory and speed information. Seventy-three seconds into the flight, witnesses began to see a flame move up the side of the external fuel tank, then what looked like an explosion as the tank collapsed and its contents - the fuel propellants - mixed and ignited.
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