Even some sixteen years later I still remember the day and what I was doing when I heard that the space shuttle Challenger had exploded. I was five years old in 1986, attending elementary school and being a normal five year old. On Tuesday January 28, 1986 I was home sick from school being babysat by my grandmother because my parents were at work. I knew that day was important because we had talked about the space launch in school and planned on watching it that day. The space launch was extra special this time because it was going to be the first time a civilian would go into space and this was no ordinary civilian it would be a high school teacher named Christa McAuliffe. Just like everyone else tuned into the television that morning I witnessed before my eyes the worst space disaster to date.
Dubbed the most memorable moment of the 80’s the Challenger explosion was the 80’s children most memorable event. There were several reasons that the explosion has had such an affect on my generation. The space launch was being broadcasted across United States live from Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Mahal). This launch was one of the most publicized launches due to the first civilian going into space and also that the launch had bee
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The temperature at ground level was 36 degrees Faherninate fifteen degrees colder than any other previous shuttle launch by NASA (Mahal). The explosion was blamed on the O-rings, a set of gaskets that sealed the joints between the rocket booster sections failed due to being exposed to cold weather. The video footage of the explosion is the most haunting thing about the moment. NASA and President Reagan thought that one of America’s teachers would be the best candidate for the trip because teachers have the ability to communicate to people and get the interested and excited about almost anything. Watching the videotape at around one second after ignition black smoke could be seen coming from the right Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). The skis about Kennedy Space Center were clear and the sun was out in the sky.
The External Tank was almost ready to blow up by this time because the flames were pushing closer and closer to the tank. Only a fraction of a second later the flame was well defined and could be seen without enhancing the film. The External Tank actually held two different chemicals in two different portions of the tank at the top was Oxygen and at the bottom was Hydrogen (Mahal).
The shuttle would never make it into space it exploded only seventy-three seconds after liftoff killing all seven members of its crew. When the O-Rings failed the twin booster rockets separated and few off, the shuttle cabin separated and fell ten miles into the ocean (Remember). Red smoke was seen after the explosion and this was found to be the actual control system burning from the wreckage. In Coca Beach, Florida in 1996 two large pieces of debris washed ashore and were found on the beach by beachgoers. 8 seconds a flame is seen coming from the shuttles Single Rocket Boaster (Mahal). The crewmembers were Commander Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.
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