satellite from now on McNair pilot Mike
Smith followed by Christa McAuliffe
featuring faith
Ellison Onizuka and payload specialist
Greg Jarvis big smiles today confidently
getting into the van we're going to go
to that pad and attempt a second try
second loss second try at launch today
it will take a few minutes for the
astronaut van to get to the pad
the orbiter and the first crew member
commander dick Scobee now in the white
room taking off his jacket along with
Mike Smith who is the the pilot dick
Scobee became a military pilot and later
a test pilot the hard way the he
enlisted in the Air Force in 1957 and
was trained as a reciprocating engine
mechanic however he went to night school
during the time he was down at Kelly Air
Force Base and earned two years of
college credit which helped lead to his
selection as for the Airman's education
and commissioning program he graduated
from the University of Arizona with a
degree in aerospace engineering received
his commission in 1965 and his wings in
1966 eyes completed a number of
assignments for the Air Force including
becoming an Air Force test pilot he was
the pilot of the 41 C mission which
deployed the long-duration exposure
facility which is still in orbit and
captured and repaired the solar maximum
mission satellite and placed it in orbit
where it is functioning better than ever
Mike Smith putting on his egress harness
to they're going to be going very fast
two days to get out of the cold and into
the cabin he was one of the Mike Smith
is one of the few rookies on board this
flight he's a graduate of the US Naval
Academy in Annapolis and received his
naval aviator wings in 1969 he had a
two-year tour of duty in Vietnam and as
a graduate of the Navy test pilot school
where he also served as an instructor
for 18 months
altogether he's flown about 28 different
types of civilian and military aircraft
logging over 43 hundred hours
he's taken on a number of tasks while
he's been in the astronaut corps he
served as commander in the shuttle
avionics integration laboratory in
Houston which tests all of the
instrumentation and computers and
software for the shuttle he also was
deputy chief of aircraft operations and
technical assistant to the director of
flight operations George Abby he also
served in the astronaut office
development and test group after the
scrub yesterday the crew went back to
the crew quarters where they relaxed for
a while and were able to have dinner
with their spouses in the crew quarters
dining room but they had to be in bed by
about 7 o'clock so they could be up and
on their way this morning Mike Smith
shaking hands with the closeout crew
which has assisted him in in getting
ready they take a look at his feet and
then wipe those out to make sure he's
not carrying any debris into the cabin
with him
this is shuttle launch control at one
hour 58 minutes 57 seconds in counting
and dr. Judy Resnik who was mission
specialist for the st 41 D mission on
her first flight is in the white room
now preparing to put on her egress
harness and get ready for her entrance
into the orbiter on her first flight
three satellites were deployed and she
was responsible for operating the remote
manipulator arm on that particular
flight she's also responsible for
operating the arm for placing the
Spartan Halley's spacecraft in orbit and
then recovering it later in flight that
will be put in orbit over the side of on
the second day the orbiter will move
about five miles away and allow it to
function and look at Halley's Comet for
40 hours and then go back and pick it up
and bring it back to earth her
undergraduate degree was from Carnegie
Mellon University and she earned her PhD
in electrical engineering from the
University of Maryland
prior to joining NASA in 1978 as a
mission specialist Judy Resnik worked as
a senior systems engineer in product
development for the Xerox Corporation in
California she's a native of Akron Ohio
and also a classical pianist and enjoys
flying and bicycling in their spare time
Ellison Onizuka also in the white room
actually everybody is going to be in
there shortly as they get ready the
teacher observer of Christa McAuliffe
has been handed an apple by the closeout
crew Ellison Onizuka Nell getting his
egress harness on
the native of Hawaii is a graduate of
our Konawaena high school and earn both
a bachelor and Master of Science degree
in aerospace engineering from the
versity of colorado after receiving his
commission in the Air Force he served as
a flight test engineer and participated
in the flight programs and system safety
engineering for a wide variety of
aircraft he graduated from the Air Force
test pilot school and then served on the
staff on azúcar is one of the astronauts
known as the Cape Crusaders who were
assigned to KSC for a period of time of
several launches and work with the
orbiter test and check-out teams and the
launch support crews the astronaut
support person on board are Sonny Billy
Bob Carter is also one of the Cape
Crusaders at the present time
right up here
go ahead up here
Buhler curricula to a social position
complete specific for five for five
okay terrific
I'll be Sufi LCCC okay apparently one of
the crew left their gloves in the
astro-man
now between the orbiter the firing room
here at Kennedy Space Center in Houston
the booster engine gimbal now underway
t-minus 15 seconds t-minus 10 9 8 7 6 we
have main engine start four three two
one and liftoff liftoff of the 25th
space shuttle mission and it has cleared
the tower
good roll program confirmed challenger
now heading down range
engines beginning throttling down now at
94% normal titles for most of the flight
104 percent will travel down to 65%
shortly engines at 65% three engines
running normally karika fuel cells
triggered ap use velocity 2257 feet per
second altitude 4.3 nautical miles
downrange distance 3 nautical miles
engines throttling up 3 engines and out
104 percent challenger go at throttle up
1 minute 15 seconds velocity 2,900 feet
per second altitude nautical miles
downrange distance $7 off
my controllers here looking very
carefully at the situation obviously a
major malfunction
we have no down Lee
we have a report from the flight
dynamics officer that the vehicle has
exploded flight director confirms that
we are looking at checking with the
recovery forces to see what can be done
at this point contingency procedures are
in effect
we will report more as we have
information available again or repeat we
have a report relayed through the flight
dynamics officer that the vehicle has
exploded we are now looking at all the
contingency operations and waiting the
report from any recovery of horses in
the downrange field
flight of the space shuttle Challenger
on mission 51 L the 25th flight of the
space shuttle program began at 11:38
a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 28
1986 it ended 73 seconds later in a
structural breakup of the external tank
and orbiter in which the seven crew
members perished the solid rocket
boosters continued in flight and were
destroyed by the Range Safety Officer
110 seconds after launch
the delivery and assembly of 51l launch
vehicle components began months prior to
launch
the solid rocket booster segments were
transported by rail to the Kennedy Space
Center the SRBs were inspected and
partially assembled at the rotation
processing and storage facility the
segments were then moved to the Vehicle
Assembly Building or VAB where they were
stacked on the mobile launch platform
the external tank arrived at KSC by
barge and was moved into the VAB where
it was checked out and made it to the
stacked solid rocket boosters after
orbiter check out challenger was rolled
into the VAB and mated with the
assembled external tank and SRBs
the STS 51l vehicle was transported from
the VAB to the launch pad on December
22nd 1985 at a crawler speed of
approximately one mile per hour the
journey takes about six hours the launch
was rescheduled several times resulting
in the final countdown on January 28
1986 the weather was forecast to be
clear and cold with temperatures
dropping into the low 20s overnight the
fueling of the external tank began at
1:25 a.m. I said accumulated on the
launch pad during the night several
water systems were opened slightly and
allowed to flow into drains the drains
froze and caused overflows high wind
gusts spread the water over large areas
and ice formed the air temperature at
launch was 36 degrees Fahrenheit this
was 15 degrees colder than any previous
launch at t-minus 7 minutes and 30
seconds the ground launch sequencer
began retracting the crew access arm the
arm can be put back in place within 15
to 20 seconds if an emergency arises and
the crew must evacuate the pad at
t-minus 3 minutes and 15 seconds gimble
checks of the orbiter main engines were
performed all three engines move in a
pre-programmed pattern to verify a sent
flight control the gimbal sequence ends
with the engines in their start
positions at t-minus 2 minutes and 55
seconds external tank liquid oxygen
pressurization began and main engine
purging was completed at t-minus 2
minutes and 50 seconds retraction of the
gaseous oxygen vent hood began the
ground launch sequencer verified its
full retraction at t-minus 37 seconds
sound suppression water was started at t
minus 16 seconds at t minus 8 seconds
hydrogen igniters were turned on to burn
off any free hydrogen six point six
seconds before launch challengers liquid
fueled main engines were ignited in
sequence and run up to full thrust
thrust from the main engines bends the
shuttle stack when it returned to
vertical the solid rocket boosters
ignited at t zero the hold-down bolts
were explosively released after the
initial pre release twang motion
structural forces on the assembly are
dissipated through vibration at a rate
of three cycles per second during the
first few seconds of flight roll
maneuver was initiated at seven point
seven to four seconds the maneuver was
completed at twenty-one point one to
four seconds most of the plane hundred
and four percent will throttle down to
the main engines were throttled back to
65 percent at 35 point three seven nine
seconds for about 16 seconds in order to
alleviate loads during maximum dynamic
pressure velocity 2257 feet per second
altitude four point three nautical miles
downrange distance the engines were then
throttled up to 104 percent at fifty one
point nine one nine seconds during the
flight telemetry data gave no indication
of problems
minute 15 seconds velocity 2,900 feet
per second altitude nautical miles
downrange distance $7 off
the solid rocket boosters continued in
flight and were destroyed by the Range
Safety Officer 110 seconds after launch
data from nearly 200 cameras were
analyzed during the investigation the
following sequence of events is based on
the evaluation of film video and
telemetry data this graphic indicates
viewing angles for three cameras in the
vicinity of the launch site the first
view shown is from camera East 63 at the
lower right of the chart at point six
seven eight seconds into the flight a
strong puff of grey smoke can be seen
spurting from the vicinity of the aft
field joint on the right solid rocket
booster the vaporized material streaming
from the joint indicates there was not
complete sealing action within the joint
this second view is from camera e60 the
smoke can be seen between the right SRB
and the external tank and initially
moves in the upward direction the angle
between this view and a 63 is
approximately 100 degrees with a 60 and
e63 side-by-side it is clear that when
smoke is first visible to camera e60 it
is not yet visible to e63 point two
seconds later it becomes visible to e63
and is seen in multiple lobes or puffs
reaching maximum visibility at about 1.9
seconds a third higher resolution camera
D 67 was located east of the launch pad
D 67 recorded this view of the smoke at
approximately the same time of maximum
development smoke appears to the right
side of the SRB only while normal water
condensation vapors appear to the left
this plan shows that none of the cameras
directly view the surface of the right
SRB in the shaded region of the graphic
analysis of film from several pad
cameras indicated that the smoke
from between 270 and 310 degrees on the
circumference of the AFT field joint as
indicated on these preflight photos the
smoke emerged from just above the strut
between the SRB and ET at a point along
the longitudinal axis near the aft field
joint the multiple smoke puffs occurred
at a rate of about 4 times per second
approximating the frequency of the
structural load dynamics and resultant
joint flexing this greatly exaggerated
computer animation depicts the flexing
of the SRB joint this flexing increased
the gap between the tang and clevis at
the location of two rubber o-ring seals
last evidence of smoke above the aft
attached ring appears at 2.7 3 3 seconds
the last indication of smoke dispersing
below the F don't appear zat 3.37 5
seconds
film records of the Assembly of the
solid rocket booster were reviewed to
determine any evidence of cause for the
smoke photographs taken just prior to
mating of the booster segments at the
aft field joint show the o-rings
installed in the grease clevis grooves a
subtle variation was detected but
through computer enhancement was
determined to be a shadow caused by
irregularities in the grease no evidence
of oring defects was observed in any of
the stacking photography the facility
gaseous hydrogen vent arm was not
captured after retraction at launch film
analysis however showed that it did not
rebound and contact the vehicle or
contribute to the accident post launch
inspection of the hold-down posts
revealed that the kick spring assemblies
on four of the posts were missing
detailed analysis determined that the
assemblies could not have become
detached prior to t + 850 milliseconds
and were not a contributing factor to
the smoke observed at liftoff
the next significant event was the
development of the SRB burned through
plume camera E 2 O 7 located about 6
miles north of the launch pad shows the
growth of this plume the first evidence
of flame appeared on the right solid
rocket booster at fifty eight point
seven eight eight seconds this occurred
as the main engines had been throttled
up to 104 percent thrust and the SRBs
were increasing thrust camera e 203 was
located west of the launch site and
gives an aft view the exposure was set
for the booster nozzle plumes this
graphic illustrates the location of the
flare the flare was located near the aft
field joint approximately 300 degrees
circumferentially which is consistent
with the location of the smoke emissions
at liftoff within half a second the
flame had grown into a continuous and
well-defined plume at about the same
time telemetry showed a divergence and
chamber pressures between the right and
left SRBs pressure in the right SRB
chamber was lower as a result of the
growing leak the plume is seen here in
pinching directly onto the surface of
the external tank and the lower aft
strut at sixty point two four eight
seconds at about sixty two seconds the
control system elements began to respond
to the forces caused by the plume as
recorded on e 207 and E 204 the first
visual indication that the anomalous
plume penetrated the external tank was
seen at sixty four point six six seconds
as an abrupt change in the shape and
color of the plume this is an indication
of hydrogen leaking from the external
tank
at sixty four point seven oh five
seconds a bright sustained glow
developed between the orbiter and the
external tank slight changes in the
hydrogen tank pressure telemetry data
confirmed the leak two point two seconds
later at sixty six point eight seconds
when the LH two tank pressurization
system could no longer maintain its
normal repressurization rate at seventy
two point six seconds the LH to tank
pressure could no longer be maintained
indicating that the leak path had
significantly increased and was growing
rapidly at seventy two point two seconds
the guidance system showed that right
SRB motion diverged from the orbiter and
left SRB indicating that the lower ET
SRB strut was severed or pulled loose
during this timeframe exaggerated
steering commands and control system
responses registered in telemetry data
and approximately 73 seconds both liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen pressure to
the main engines showed a significant
drop this was followed at seventy three
point one to four seconds by the
appearance of a circumferential white
pattern around the ET aft region
suggesting LH to tank structural failure
13 milliseconds later at seventy three
point one three seven seconds vapor was
observed at the inner tank indicative of
the liquid oxygen tank failing this can
be attributed to have normal loads
induced by either the right SRB rotation
at the forward attach point or the
propulsive forces created by the yell h2
tank aft bulkhead failure probably both
within milliseconds liquid oxygen was
observed streaming along the external
tank at seventy three point one nine one
seconds a flash was observed between the
ET and orbiter that was immediately
followed by the start of total vehicle
breakup at seventy three point two one
three seconds during the next 100
milliseconds additional flashes occur in
the SRB forward attach area as the ET
broke
the released fluids vaporized rapidly
producing an expanding cloud of gases
vapors and cryogenic fluid with embedded
debris and localized combustion of mixed
gases no shockwave or other evidence of
a violent explosion was detected in the
imagery illumination from a combination
of SRB plume radiance reflected sunlight
and peripheral burning of gases gives
the cloud the appearance of a fireball
by seventy three point six seconds the
main engines were in automatic shutdown
mode as a result of reduced propellant
pressures the last telemetry from
challenger was received seventy three
point six one eight seconds after launch
the actual vehicle breakup was
essentially obscured from view by the
vapor cloud which abruptly enveloped the
vehicle hundreds of fragments were noted
exiting the et cloud those identified
included the shuttle main engines the
left wing crew cabin and both SRBs
approximately one second after initial
breakup film showed the front segment of
the orbiter emerging from the cloud the
nose crew cabin and a portion of the
cargo bay make up the orbiter in this
view nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer from
the forward reaction control system
provided a distinctive orange brown
color to the cloud by seventy four point
five seven eight seconds a yellow cloud
or flash was visible near the orbiter
nose segment this is believed to be
caused by burning monomethylhydrazine
from the forward RCS the flash reaction
from the RCS propellant sub aided
revealing separation of the nose section
from the crew cabin less than a quarter
of a second later the crew cabin was
noted to be severed from the cargo bay
igniting a propellant discharge
continued to be observed from the
forward RCS
a camera south of the launch pad
recorded a wider array of debris exiting
the vapor cloud the initial emergence of
the crew cabin from this perspective was
at seventy five point two three seven
seconds the initial path of the crew
cabin from the vapor cloud carried it
across the path of an adjacent contrail
clearly revealing its truncated form and
attitude the left wing became visible at
seventy eight point five three one
seconds the main engines and crew cabin
are also identifiable after ten seconds
the crew cabin was seen again with the
front end and top of the cabin visible
as the subject moved further away and
dropped lower on the horizon the quality
of the image for visual analysis
deteriorated rapidly long-range tracking
cameras followed the SRBs through Range
Safety destruct at approximately seventy
five point eight seconds the right SRB
was seen exiting the cloud camera E to O
seven shows the right SRB after the
breakup and the joints are clearly
visible except for the aft field joint
this confirmed the location of the plume
along the longitudinal axis of the SRB
the separated nose cap and deployed
drogue parachute are identified at
approximately seventy six point four
seconds
the shockwave from the detonation of the
linear shaped charge on the right SRB
can be seen clearly simultaneously the
left SRB was destroyed at approximately
37 seconds challenger had encountered
the first of several expected high
altitude wind shear conditions which
lasted until about 64 seconds these wind
shears are best illustrated by the
effect on the booster exhaust trails the
effect of wind shear was immediately
sensed and countered by the guidance
navigation and control system wind
reconstructions were aided by comparing
predicted exhaust trail shapes with
acquired photography the reconstructed
winds were used in trajectory and flight
loads analyses which verified that the
loads were within limits
several flashes and yes any plumes were
observed during the flight as similar
life is a mysterious light these are
considered NASA to have not tribute into
the acts of the accident the visible
condensation that appears in this frame
is created by shockwaves which develop
as the vehicle passes through the speed
of sound
a large-scale search effort was
initiated to recover the space shuttle
debris 22 ships six underwater search
vessels and 33 aircraft participated in
the operation the pieces recovered
initially were those found floating on
the surface the submarine fleet was used
to locate and inspect underwater debris
objects identified as being important to
the investigation were retrieved 50% of
the entire vehicle was recovered in the
effort the ocean search area was located
at the edge of the Gulf Stream at depths
up to 1,200 feet approximately 93
thousand square miles of ocean were
searched the recovered hardware was
brought to the recovery facility where
root construction to verify the
investigation team's findings as well as
an order été and the survey's inside the
recovery facility parts were rows of
floral recorder to the duration of the
vehicle 45 percent of the orbiter itself
was recovered the debris confirmed that
the orbiter and its payloads did not
contribute to the cause of the accident
and that the orbiter breakup was a
result of aerodynamic effects rather
than explosive effects shown here are
parts of the orbiter forward fuselage
structure which surrounds the crew cabin
extensive heating and erosion was
detected on the right aft section of the
orbiter the paint was scorched and
blackened on the right side of the aft
fuselage thermal distress was apparent
on the right rudder speed brake while
the left showed little effect thermal
effects were also seen on the Elavon
the aft left side of the orbiter showed
no apparent sign of heat damage the
remaining recovered parts of the orbiter
showed no evidence of fire or explosion
from within the vehicle all three main
engines were recovered and helped to
verify that they did not contribute to
the cause of the accident the external
tank was similarly reconstructed 25% of
the liquid hydrogen tank 80% of the
inner tank and 5% of the liquid oxygen
tank was recovered most of the external
hardware was also recovered
the nose cap sustained very little
damage in general the recovered pieces
were quite large
the spray-on foam insulation exhibited
varying degrees of thermal effects from
extreme charring to practically no
effect the external tank range safety
destruct explosive charges housed in
this cable tray were recovered
undetonated eliminating them as a
possible factor an external tank breakup
the inter tank region showed signs of
buckling in the fore and aft direction
this would be consistent with the
impulsive thrust that resulted from the
sudden loss of liquid hydrogen from the
aft section of the tank this sharing
failure of the forward attachment
fitting with the right SRB was caused by
the boosters rotation after the aft
strut area failed
the stiffener stringers on the
right-hand side of the inner tank show
evidence of contact which match marks on
the forward assembly of the right SRB a
section of the ring frame and a section
of the a film from the lower strut
attachment area was recovered in one
piece the lower strut attachment fitting
had been pulled away the effects of the
anomalous SRB plume can be seen on the
external tank excluding an area which
was shielded by the strut and attachment
fitting approximately 50% of solid
rocket booster Hardware was recovered an
ordnance storage facility was used to
house the motor case pieces as some
contained unburned propellant marks seen
on the right SRB frustum matched the
contact area shown previously on the et
inter tank stringers the size and
location of the burn through as
indicated by the recovered SRB debris
were illustrated on an assembled booster
the aft center section of the joint
shows a large hole centered at the 307
degrees circumferential position the
irregular hole is roughly rectangular
and is about 27 by 15 inches the
Steelcase material showed evidence of
hot gas erosion caused by combustion
products flowing through the opening the
aft section of the right SRB showed a
hole approximately 33 by 21 inches the
burned surface extended into the aft
attached strut region the exterior
surface of the aft case featured a large
heat affected area the shape and
location of this heat spot indicates an
impingement from the escaping gases
there was a small burn through in the
case wall
which appeared to have penetrated from
the outside in this was due to the
impingement of hot gases from the
anomalous plume the hole and the solid
rocket booster segments was the result
of the joint leakage on the right hand
SRB which was determined to be the cause
of the accident the presidential
commission concluded that the cause of
the Challenger accident was the failure
of the pressure seal in the aft filled
joint of the right solid rocket motor
the failure was due to a faulty design
rendering the seal unacceptably
sensitive to a number of factors those
factors include the effects of
temperature physical dimensions the
character of materials the effects of
reuse and processing and the reaction of
the joint to dynamic loading more
detailed analyses are contained in
volume 3 of the report of the
Presidential Commission on the space
shuttle Challenger accident