NASA: The Challenger Disaster, Essay Example

The Incident

It was on 27^th January 1986 that NASA faced the first space shuttle disaster. The space shuttle “Challenger” literally exploded and tore itself apart shortly after taking off, Fig 1 captures the moment. The accident killed all 7 astronauts on board and is regarded as the worst accident in the entire history of the space shuttle program. The ill-fated flight achieved further notoriety as it would have seen the first teacher in space – Christa McAuliffe. Shortly after the disaster it was discovered that NASA had selected a faulty design causing safety issues, despite objects the mission went ahead on the order of politicians.

The Cause

It was the side mounted booster rocket, which helps to propel the shuttle into orbit, which had flaws in the design. The flaws were subject to improvement but not considered dangerous enough to halt the program.  The boosters are comprised of four segments that are bolted together and it was an escaping flame that destroyed the space shuttle. The prime contractor of the solid fuel propellants was located with a firm in Utah and stated to have strong links to a powerful Republican senator who influenced the NASA space shuttle program. (Oberg, 2011). Adequate safety measures would have not allowed the flight to have taken place given the degree of risk in the faulty design.

The Administration team seriously reflected on the decision making process and the cost in human life “A second concern is that the decision made put safety last and operational goals first. Only one member of the GDSS expressed serious concern for the potential loss of life” (Forrest, 2005). These mistakes were never to be repeated.

NASA and the Media

The Media had been placing a lot of pressure on NASA for a timely space launch. As a teacher was being sent into space, the live coverage would be watched by school children all over the States.  Media coverage for this event would be massive.  When the event happened NASA went to great lengths to state that the deaths would have been instantaneous and the crew would have known nothing about it.  It was later discovered that this was not a correct representation to the media “NASA states that it’s unlikely that the astronauts have been killed or even injured by the Shuttle’s disintegration. At least some of the astronauts survived the disaster and must have been conscious afterwards, as three of the four Personal Egress Air Packs (PEAP) had been manually activated.” (Kirps, 2007)

NASA as such might have handled the communications and the media better. Nevertheless this was early in the space shuttle program and came as a great shock to all concerned.  It was highly politicised and there was concern about how this might impact the minds of the younger people witnessing this terrible event.

NASA and the Public

A similar disaster took place involving the Columbia Shuttle in 2003. Since that time public opinion and government opinion has been less keen on space exploration and the space shuttle program “The Challenger disaster not only destroyed the lives of victims and their families, but also changed public and government opinion towards space flight in general” (Bulatovic, 2011). Nevertheless NASA will move forward because of human enterprise and the endeavour to advance scientific exploration of space.

References

Bulatovic, P. (2011, 1 28). NASA struggles with direction 25 years after Challenger disaster. Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/28/f-challenger-crash-nasa-25-years-later.html

Forrest, J. (2005, 10 7). The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: A failure in decision support system and human factors management. Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from http://dssresources.com/cases/spaceshuttlechallenger/index.html

Kirps, J. (2007, 12 12). Astronauts Probably Survived Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion. Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from Galaxiki: http://www.galaxiki.org/web/main/_blog/all/astronauts-probably-survived-space-shuttle-challenger-explosion.shtml

Oberg, J. (2011, 1 25). 7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster . Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from NBC News: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ns/technology_and_science-space/