On January 28, 1986, at 11:38 local time in Florida, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds in the air after takeoff from the base Cape Canaveral, one of the worst accidents of astronautics history.
The launch was seen live since transmission is performed for the whole country because it was the first mission of the “Teachers in Space “ (teachers in space), which aimed to bring back the public’s attention to the manned space program.
However, the event was listed as one of the worst aerospace accidents, and the first of this magnitude NASA suffering since the fire that took the lives of the crew of Apollo I, on January 27, 1967.
That night, then-President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) planned to give the speech on the State of the Union, which postponed due to national mourning and instead delivered a moving message , particularly aimed at children who were watching the launch, which had a great impact on society .
The STS-51L was part of the 25th space shuttle program, which began in 1981 with the aim of having a reusable vehicle that would reduce the cost of access to space. Of the three parties that formed the system, two of them (the orbiter and solid propulsion engines) were reused for subsequent missions, while the third (the external fuel tank) was built new for each.
This would be second mission of 1986, the first STS-61C was made on January 12, two weeks before the launch of the Challenger, and the first of the orbiter in that year.
In addition to the program “Teachers in Space” another objective that had the mission was to conduct experiments related to Halley kite would happen on February 9 perihelion.
Also, the astronauts were to orbit a satellite communications and conduct other scientific work on fluid dynamics.
From January 22, the original day for takeoff, spent 28 with fear that the delay will complicate the release schedule planned for that year.
Christa McAuliffe, 37, and social studies teacher, and Barbara Morgan, his deputy, 35, who taught math, were chosen from 12,000 candidates to form part of the “Teachers in Space” . Just, who he was part of the flight had had a significant positive impact on society
The cold of that January 28 1 ° C below zero, had Thiokol engineers who built solid propulsion engines ( SRB) located on either side of the orbiter, will be displayed extremely concerned in the days before the launch.
It was a cold too extreme for the O-shaped rings that sealed the different stages of the SRB. The engineers could not guarantee its elasticity and resistance to the rigors of temperature and pressure release to these weather conditions, but the pressure not to delay the mission ended up imposing and NASA approved the launch of Challenger, said the specialized portal in technology Engadget
After the disaster happened. The shuttle lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at 11:38 local time and the Challenger exploded 73 seconds
All crew, Francis “Dick” Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik and Christa McAuliffe, died of accident .
The dramatic accident frustrated the aspiration of NASA sending civilians into space to involve society in their explorations, build support for its costly financing and obtain the views of teachers, journalists and other professionals who could make a literary contribution.
NASA shuttles stopped flying in July 2011, and all that remains of them are now museum pieces. The FDA relies since the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts
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