The Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster - Explained (Minute by Minute)

The Challenger space shuttle tragedy shocked the entire world and reminded everyone of the gravity and intense dangers space exploration really is. Decades later, visiting space as a tourist is now closer than ever, but we must never forget those brave astronauts who risked everything to adventure into the great unknown. Today's epic new video revisits that tragic day and analyzes what caused the Challenger to experience a catastrophic failure.

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[Justin-jghi]

I am still beyond furious that not a single person that was apart of this was ever held accountable. The engineers told the non engineers that this wouldn’t end well, and the non engineers ignored them, ridiculed them, and in some instances, fired them.

[NorthernChev]

AGAIN: The solid rocket booster O-ring did NOT fail due to “excessive use” as, for whatever reason, he keeps saying HERE. Every O-ring in each segment is replaced at each SRB refueling. The O-ring failed due to THERMAL HARDENING from the freezing weather it experienced the night before, leaving a gap between the segments. The engineers stated repeatedly that these O-rings were NOT designed to withstand that type of temperature cycling at these rates.

[merianharper]

I was 10 years old when this happened. I was watching it live on TV at home, since we were having a snow day that day. I wanted to be an astronaut so badly, and my 4th grade teacher had applied for the program, but was not chosen. I remember not believing what I was seeing, and ended up a hysterically sobbing mess, not only because of the accident but the stark terror of realizing that my favorite teacher could have been on that shuttle. I gave her the biggest hug when school opened up again.

[LeicaCat]

In 1986, I witnessed the explosion live from 40 miles away (Melbourne) through the window in my college dorm room. The plume of smoke lingered in the sky for many hours afterwards as a solemn reminder of what we had just witnessed. I called my mom on the phone in tears to tell her what had just happened. Three years later, when I graduated, I wound up working as an electrical & computer engineer in the Range Safety Data/Command group. This is the team responsible for tracking and destroying any space vehicles, like the solid rocket boosters, that veer off course and risk harm to civilian populations.

[kimberamweg]

I wasn't alive when this happened, but I grew up in NH and we knew the story of Christa McAuliffe from a very young age. There's a planetarium named for her in Concord. The whole state was so proud of her, and the whole state still grieved her loss at least in the late 90s.

[ArizonaGunsDave]

0:12 Well technically there were a lot of people that knew something was wrong, that's why they had meeting after meeting prior to the launch because of the O-ring that several people told those in charge of the launch the the shuttle is going to explode. One engineer went home before the launch because he didn't want to witness what he knew was going to happen!

[Maddogg-hgme]

Such a common story: people who work on the front lines and have plenty of knowledge to share try to warn the higher-ups about what could possibly go wrong and are blown off while basically being told to sit down and shut up. In this instance, it happened to cost 7 men and women their lives.

[ohthereyouarepeter]

My aunt had Christa McAuliffe as a teacher and my mom had her as a study hall teacher.. I hear she was an amazing woman and great teacher. Definitely check out the museum in Concord NH, it's a good trip..

[dieseljester]

I remember watching this happening live on TV when I was a kid. Later, when I was a student at Purdue getting my Aviation Management degree, this was one of the accidents that we studied in depth and it was drilled into us that if you see a problem that could be potentially dangerous, then don't be quiet about it. Stand up, use your voice, and speak out. Let it be known that there's a problem that could result in the loss of life.

[JRGProjects]

This was such a disaster Star Trek Enterprise novels referenced it and the reason why Starfleet's Engineering Division is almost religous in their safety checks and explains why the Chief Engineer has ultimate authority when it comes to deeming a craft spaceworthy. Not even the Captain can override the Engineer's command authority in this case. Cmdr Tucker would have had the authority to pull the plug on this mission. A little peice of lore connected to a real life event.

[ChS]

Just for the record, this had absolutely nothing to due with excessive flights or lack of turn around time. While there were many issues in this area, mostly to do with the SSMEs and the thermal tiles on the orbiter, none of these contributed to the Challenger disaster in any way.

The root cause was blowby on the rubber o-rings used to seal the SRB segments together, which were completely replaced for every flight. Excessive blowby had been observed on most previous flights, and seemed to be worse when launching in cold weather. As the launch was to be the coldest by far due to a freak ice storm, this is fundamentally what caused the engineers to raise safety concerns. In actuality, the engineers in question were not actually NASA personnel, rather they worked for the contractor which manufactured the SRBs (Morton Thiokol), and they would not have been involved with orbiter refurbishment procedures at all, nor were they in any way affected by the rapid pace of shuttle launches at that time.

[brokenbridge]

The Challenger disaster was tragic in so many ways. One of which was the crew. Such a diverse group of people lost before their time. They all could've inspired future generations had they lived. That is particularly tragic.

[reefthewatcher]

R.I.P. to the fallen. I was in 4th grade when this happened, I'll never forget it.

[cassolibro]

No matter how many times I hear this story, it still gives me chills and feelings of despair. I absolutely love the cosmos, but this story is heart wrenching. May they rest in peace.

[BLACKAAROW]

Pretty terrifying that they survived the initial explosion and only died when they hit the water which was long enough for them to realize what was gonna happen to them when they were falling back down

[Jeb_bezos]

The fact that only 3 shuttle mission had no visible damage to the O rings til the challenger disaster. And NASA did about as much as me on a test week. Is stunning to me

[hiro]

I feel so sorry for everyone attached to this, angry at those who didn't listen to the ones that KNEW... and for Jarvis, who lost an opportunity twice to politicians and finally when he gets his chance, he loses his life here.

[martinmacphee]

It is clear that at least several crew members were conscious and functional after the explosion. This is known because upon depressurization, the crew were to activate their emergency air supplies. In the case of some of them, the supply had to be activated by an astronauts sitting behind them. At least two astronauts did so, and the emergency air supplies were activated, and air consumed for the time period that the cabin remained intact, just over 2 and a half minutes.

[michaelturner]

I was in fifth grade when this happened. They rolled the television into the classroom so we could all watch. I will never forget. This is what happens when management doesn't listen to the employees working under them. This is a crisis that never had to happen. I just hope the crew didn't feel any pain.

[leonb]

The main failure was that the O-rings couldn't take the low temps experience overnight and that morning. Indeed from 42 F they become stiff and wouldn't seal properly. A key human failure was the pressure to get the flight going due to political pressure with the teacher on board and the big publicity for NASA along with it to hopefully improve their funding. That meant that the engineers were overridden, hoping nothing would happen.