#Challenger launch full#

Widely regarded as one of the best speeches of his presidency, the 650-word address ended with a moving quote from the poem “High Flight,” by the American pilot John McGee Jr., who was killed while flying for the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Reagan postponed his annual message to the nation (the first, and so far only, time in history a president has done so) and addressed the nation about the Challenger instead. But the rumors that pressure was exerted from above, specifically from the Reagan White House, in order to connect the shuttle or its astronauts directly in some way with the State of the Union seem to have been politically motivated and not based on any direct evidence. NASA officials apparently felt intense pressure to push the Challenger’s mission forward after repeated delays, partially due to difficulties getting the previous shuttle, Columbia, back on the ground.

Some suggested that the White House pushed NASA to launch the shuttle in time for President Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address

#Challenger launch full#

But the cabin hit the water’s surface (at more than 200 mph) a full 2 minutes and 45 seconds after the shuttle broke apart, and it’s unknown whether any of the crew could have regained consciousness in the final few seconds of the fall.

It’s likely that the Challenger’s crew survived the initial breakup of the shuttle but lost consciousness due to loss of cabin pressure and probably died due to oxygen deficiency pretty quickly. The pieces-including the crew cabin-reached an altitude of some 65,000 feet before falling out of the sky into the Atlantic Ocean below. Without its fuel tank and boosters beneath it, however, powerful aerodynamic forces soon pulled the orbiter apart. The fuel tank itself collapsed and tore apart, and the resulting flood of liquid oxygen and hydrogen created the huge fireball believed by many to be an explosion.Īfter the collapse of its fuel tank, the Challenger itself remained momentarily intact and actually continued moving upwards. The astronauts aboard the shuttle didn’t die instantly.Ī seal in the shuttle’s right solid-fuel rocket booster designed to prevent leaks from the fuel tank during liftoff weakened in the frigid temperatures and failed, and hot gas began pouring through the leak. We will never forget your dedication and sacrifice.'įor updates on this story, follow Nick Natario on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.2. On behalf of a grateful City, I extend my condolences to all of the astronaut's families, NASA employees and everyone touched by these tragedies. 'They 'dreamed big,' devoting their careers and their hearts to help our nation explore space. 'Thousands of people in Friendswood were devoted to the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs,' said mayor Mike Foreman in a statement. 28 anniversary of Challenger and the 1967 Apollo I disaster were especially hard on the Houston area and the Johnson Space Center. The Columbia Accident Investigating Board rebuilt it piece by piece inside a hangar at the Kennedy Space Center. In the Columbia accident, pieces were left scattered across several states.

27, 1967, while the Columbia disaster that killed seven happened on Feb. The Apollo 1 fire that killed three was on Jan. It also remembers those who died in the Apollo 1 and Columbia accidents. NASA observes a Day of Remembrance on Jan. 'The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.' 'The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. I am rather confident that it is one of the largest pieces ever found of Challenger,' NASA program manager, Mike Ciannilli said.īecause of the proximity to the Florida Space Coast, the item's modern construction and the presence of 8-inch square tiles, the documentary team contacted NASA, who wanted to ensure that the surviving family members of the Challenger crew were notified first. The dive team was working for a History Channel documentary about the Bermuda Triangle and looking for wreckage of a World War II-era aircraft when they noticed a large humanmade object covered partially by sand on the seafloor, NASA says. NASA officials tell ABC13 that a 20-foot segment of the shuttle was discovered and recovered by divers off the East coast of Florida. NASA said that it's 'carefully considering additional actions to take that will properly honor the legacy of the Challenger, the crew members who were lost, and the families who loĪ stunning discovery has been made 36 years after the Challenger space shuttle disaster.