|
CHALLENGER DISASTER 1986 It had been five years and two dozen missions since the first space shuttle flight when the astronauts aboard the shuttle Challenger prepared for liftoff on the morning of January 28, 1986. The shuttle missions had been so successful that NASA had begun a special program to take ordinary citizens into space. The first participant in the program, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, was on board Challenger. At 11:38 a.m. -- after several delays and over the objections of some engineers -- Challenger lifted off the launch pad. Everything seemed to be proceeding normally when, 73 seconds into the flight, the shuttle disintegrated into a ball of fire. Six crew members and McAuliffe were killed. An extensive investigation determined that the accident was caused by the failure of rubber "O" rings that sealed a joint in the shuttle's solid rocket booster. It would be more than two years before a shuttle would fly again. |