NASA’s Greatest Downfall: The Challenger Disaster

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NASA’s Greatest Downfall: The Challenger Disaster It was a freezing morning on January 28, 1986. Many spectators were waiting anxiously to witness the liftoff of the Challenger space shuttle’s 25th mission. These spectators included thousands of students because Christa McAuliffe was to be the first teacher in space. Tragically, only 73 seconds after liftoff, the Challenger split apart resulting in the death of all 7 members on board. There is evidence that NASA was aware of issues that could have potentially complicated the scheduled liftoff, but NASA fatally decided to proceed with the mission. Because of NASA’s negligence and the loss of 7 lives, the Challenger mission of January 1986 was one of the greatest failures of NASA. The Challenger experienced multiple delays before finally launching on January 28th. During the week of January 26th, the rescheduled liftoff after 5 delays, temperature projections were unusually low ranging from 26 degrees to 29 degrees in Florida where the shuttle launching was to take place (Robison et al 62). This created concern for NASA and Morton Thiokol, the company where the rocket boosters for the Challenger were made, regarding the functionality of the rocket boosters. Morton Thiokol engineers cautioned the company to delay the launch, so they contacted NASA and explained their concerns. Eager to accomplish the launch, NASA asked Morton Thiokol to reassess the issues. Morton Thiokol and NASA had a meeting, with exclusion of the engineers, regarding the low temperatures. Without the engineers’ vocal opinions in the meeting, the managers of Morton Thiokol consented for NASA to proceed with the launch of Challenger on January (Robison et al 62). However, the scheduled launch was once again de... ... middle of paper ... ... n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Kelley, Carey, Nick Lopez, Michael Salinas, and Gabriel Garcia. "The Challenger Disaster - What Really Happened!." YouTube. CFKSite, 28 May 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. "Letter from Joseph Kerwin to Richard Truly, July 28, 1986." Gale U.S. History in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Student Resources in Context. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. McDonald, Virginian-Pilot/AP. "5 Myths of Challenger Shuttle Disaster Debunked." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 27 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Robison, Wade, Roger Boisjoly, David Hoeker, and Stefan Young. "Representation and Misrepresentation: Tufte and the Morton Thiokol Engineers on the Challenger." Science and Engineering Ethics 2002: 59-81. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. "Roger Boisjoly, Engineer Who Warned of Challenger Shuttle Disaster, Dies at 73." Space.com. Space.com, 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

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