Space Disasters
Even with the numerous technological improvements these disasters seem to be inevitable. The cause of the accidents may not be the fault of the technology though. The Columbia crash, for example, should be blamed on the ignorance of the upper-level managers and NASA scientist. They had considered hundreds of problems, literally, that might threaten the craft's safety, but they decided to launch it anyway. There were also many previous damages that the Columbia obtained in its twenty-two years of use, such as snapped pins and broken foam. Individuals within NASA felt that if it caused no problem the first time it must be safe. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded seventy-three seconds into its flight, killing the seven members aboard, including a teacher. This accident was believed to be caused by, believe it or not, the temperature that day. Due to the cooler temperatures than experienced
Space disasters are not relatively new, but they date all the way back to 1967. On March 18, 1980, a Russian spacecraft exploded on the launch pad while being refueled killing fifty. So if NASA would have been patient and delayed the launch of the Challenger to a warmer day the lives of the astronauts, and one very unlucky teacher would not have been needlessly lost. Besides the two more commonly known accidents of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, there have been a number of other accidents around the world that have claimed many lives. None of the astronauts were killed only the unexpecting engineers and mechanics. Officials say that the country simply will not fund in the building of another shuttle. NASA will be forced to use their older crafts, which are ten to eighteen years old. The agency had actually planned to continue flights as early as March of next year, but the recent string of hurricanes seems to have delayed those plans. Even with the numerous deaths brave men and women continue to risk their lives for the sake of science. The Columbia disintegrated on re-entry February 1, 2003. This shows that these space accidents are becoming less frequent because this is the only year that holds two space accidents. Further investigation suggested that the cause of death was loss of pressurization in the shuttle during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. on previous launches the O-rings, which seal two field joints together, were changed. One is that foam broke lose from the craft and struck the left wing shortly after launch and super-hot gasses had entered the left wheel during takeoff as well.
Common topics in this essay:
April Soyuz,
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Individuals NASA,
Challenger Columbia,
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Challenger America,
Scientist O-rings,
Columbia NASA,
space accidents,
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