re: The Challenger exploded on this day 38 years ago...January 28, 1986.

I had always thought an explosion of the fuel in one of the tanks was the cause but it was not:

quote:

---

The cause of the disaster was the failure of the primary and secondary redundant O-ring seals in a joint in the shuttle's right solid rocket booster (SRB). The record-low temperatures on the morning of the launch had stiffened the rubber O-rings, reducing their ability to seal the joints. Shortly after liftoff, the seals were breached, and hot pressurized gas from within the SRB leaked through the joint and burned through the aft attachment strut connecting it to the external propellant tank (ET), then into the tank itself. The collapse of the ET's internal structures and the rotation of the SRB that followed threw the shuttle stack, traveling at a speed of Mach 1.92, into a direction which allowed aerodynamic forces to tear the orbiter apart. 

---

I was in my living room and watching it live. I fell to the floor. That was not supposed to happen.

quote:

---

hoping it was quick and as painless as possible for them

---

Consensus is, unfortunately, that they survived until impact with the water. The vehicle compartment that they were in separated from the exploded portions. They emergency oxygen was activated by several of the astronauts and they were all found still strapped in when the vehicle compartment was found at the bottom of the ocean, dead from mostly blunt force trauma of impact. It was a long fall unfortunately.
Was a defining event in my and millions of other’s young childhood.

I worked at the Huntsville Division of Morton Thiokol when this occurred. We built tactical rocket motors and had no involvement or information on the shuttle motors. When we saw it occur, we first said there is no way it could be related to the booster motors. Boy were we wrong.

Fast forward several months later. Marshal Space Flight Center came to us to test some sub scale motors with the new double clevis and tang design that would eventually be used for return to flight. As part of the testing, we would introduce flaws in the insulation joint to allow the hot exhaust gases to enter the o-ring groove. We would then measure the erosion cross section and evaluate the sealing capability. We did about 12 tests and MSFC was amazed at how cooperative we were and easy to work with compared to our brethren in Utah. They liked us so much they offered to fund us to rebuild an old mothballed test facility for dedicated testing.

Apparently the word got out to the Utah management that we were showing them up and they shut down all future testing.

I’m not sure how all of the politics worked, but we got Cal Wiggins as our plant manager after Challenger. He was heavily involved in the decision making there. We also got Jud Lovingood who retired from MSFC. I’m not sure what he did while he was with us. Just a place to be parked and probably keep his mouth shut.

The Huntsville Division was closed in the early nineties. It was a great place to work and I have many friends I still keep up with from there.

We have a cryptic joke saying that Cal was the only person to ever kill seven astronauts and a manufacturing facility of over 500 people.

Why was Sprite the official soft drink of NASA?

Because they couldn't get 7-Up.

quote:

---

was valet parking cars at Masson’s restaurant in New Orleans. Dude pulls up, gives me his keys and said, “the space shuttle just exploded.”

---

Loved Masson’s. Went there with my parents bunches of times.

quote:

---

To this day it remains unclear why NASA insisted on going forward with the launch despite the emphatic misgivings of multiple engineers.

---

This is what is unforgivable.

You should remove this. Your fraternity brothers, who were as sick as they come, would not laugh at this. Malcolm and Earl would crap on your face for posting this!

Kirby,
Did you ever eat Fish and Chips in Eden Prairie Minnesota? Hope life is treating you well.

Not funny. Please delete.