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A somber space week for USA

ConspiRaider

Writer of Nothingnesses
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Dec 7, 2006
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Yesterday was the 41-year anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire on the launch pad, where a spark ignited the pure oxygen atmosphere inside the capsule. The 3 astronauts died from fire and smoke inhalation. It was a disaster waiting to happen. NASA had been good, but also lucky, during the Mercury and Gemini missions, and that encouraged a "charge ahead" mindset. Apollo 1 was the price tag. It was nearly 2 years before another American went into space.

Today is the 22-year anniversary of the Challenger explosion, just a minute or so after launch, killing 7 astronauts. Excessively cold temperatures on the launch pad (less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit at blastoff) altered the fit of the O-rings on the solid rocket boosters. That allowed a burn-through, knocking the shuttle package off of its trajectory and eventually into the ocean. Engineers had warned NASA management about this very thing, and were vigorously debating it with them during conferences, prior to launch. Bureaucracy, arrogance and recklessness caused this tragedy. I worked the Shuttle program just prior to the disaster, knew about the previous near-burn-through in similar conditions of temperature. There was also talk of pressure from the White House to launch, regardless, because Reagan wanted a live hookup with the orbiting teacher during his State of the Union speech.

This Friday, February 1st is to be the 5-year anniversary of the Columbia breakup upon re-entry into the atmosphere. 7 astronauts killed. A briefcase-sized piece of foam insulation was shed during blastoff, and struck the Shuttle's wing. That caused a compromise of heat shielding upon re-entry, sending the Shuttle out of control and leading to its disintegration over Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. This was a known issue, but Shuttles were launched anyway. Shuttle program set back 2 years.

In a six-day period, calendar-wise, all 3 fatal mishaps for the USA Space Program occurred.
 
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I recommend Richard Feynman's writing about the Challenger and his work as an investigator into the disaster. He also points out such things as the workers had ideas on how to better service the shuttle, but they were ignored largely because it would involve rewriting large amounts of documentation that would be cost-prohibitive.

(I do think, though, that he debunked the idea of pressure for a launch from the White House, but it's been awhile since I read All the Adventures of a Curious Character and I can't quote it.)
 
Kilgore Trout said:
I recommend Richard Feynman's writing about the Challenger and his work as an investigator into the disaster. He also points out such things as the workers had ideas on how to better service the shuttle, but they were ignored largely because it would involve rewriting large amounts of documentation that would be cost-prohibitive.

(I do think, though, that he debunked the idea of pressure for a launch from the White House, but it's been awhile since I read All the Adventures of a Curious Character and I can't quote it.)
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Good suggestions and info, KT.

The alleged Reagan connection was something I encountered, in shop talk, when I contacted my former co-workers in the Shuttle program, after Challenger blew. I'd left the Shuttle program 6 months earlier. That was the scuttlebutt back then.

Richard C. Cook did a book on this and I haven't gotten around to ordering it yet. So busy reading other material, and of course doing my own writing. But I'm going to get his tome on this, eventually...

He's here:
http://www.richardccook.com/
 
genesplicer said:
Also during this week, and 50 years ago on Jan 31, NASA's first triumph, the successful launch of Explorer I...
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YES! A good one, GS. There were many, many good ones.

I can remember being a wee lad in our backyard in Ohio one night, where Dad pointed out the satellite orbiting the Earth. There it was, you could see it with the naked eye. Probably was Telstar, launched in July, 1962. Not sure, though. I just remember seeing this little light tracking across the sky.
 
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