 The Space Shuttle Challenger accident occurred on the morning of January 28,
1986, at 11:39 EST, when Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds
into its flight (at the start of mission STS-51-L, the 25th mission of the STS
program and Challenger's 10th flight) owing to the
failure of an O-ring seal in the aft segments of the right solid rocket
booster (SRB).
The seal failure caused a flame leak from the SRB that impinged upon the
adjacent external propellant tank and aft SRB connecting strut. Within seconds
the flame caused structural failure of the external tank, and the orbiter
broke up abruptly due to aerodynamic forces. The crew compartment and many
other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor.
The launch was televised live, although most viewers saw it tape-delayed later
that day. Christa McAuliffe had been expected to be the first teacher in
space, and students worldwide had expected to watch a television broadcast of
her delivering a science lesson from space.
Funeral Ceremonies
 The remains of the crew that were identifiable were returned to their families
on April 29, 1986. Two of the crewmembers, Dick Scobee and Michael Smith, were
buried by their families at Arlington National Cemetery at individual grave
sites. The rest (the un-assignable human remains), were buried at the Space
Shuttle Challenger Memorial in Arlington on May 20, 1986.
U.S. manned space flights did not resume until over two years later, with the
launch of the space shuttle Discovery on September 29, 1988 with the "Return
to Flight" mission STS-26.
Challenger was constructed using a body frame (STA-099) that had initially
been built as a test article. STA-099 had not been meant for spaceflight, but
NASA discovered that recycling it would be cheaper than refitting the test
shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) to be space-worthy, as originally planned. The
spacecraft was named after a British corvette which carried out a pioneering
global marine research expedition in the 1870s.
Challenger, along with Discovery was modified at KSC to be able to carry the
Centaur upper-stage in its payload bay. Had STS-51-L been successful,
Challenger's next mission would have been the deployment of the Ulysses probe
with the Centaur to study the polar regions of the Sun.
Challenger was one of two space shuttles destroyed in an accident during a
mission, the other being Columbia. The collected debris of the vessel is
currently stored in decommissioned missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station. From time to time, further pieces of debris from the orbiter wash up
on the Florida coast. When this happens, they are collected and transported to
the silos for storage.
Flights
Space Shuttle Challenger flew 10 flights, spent 62.41 days in space, completed
995 orbits, and flew 25,803,940 statute miles in total, including its final
mission.
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The crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-51-L pose for their
official portrait on November 15, 1985.
In the back row from left to right: Ellison S Onizuka,
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judy Resnik.
In the front row from
left to right: Michael J Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair. |
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