Challenger Explosion
It was a cold, crisp, and damp morning on the Florida Space Coast as the space shuttle Challenger raced through the sky at speeds approaching mach 2 at an altitude of 104,000 feet when something went perilously wrong. All of America watched, including the family members of the seven doomed crew members, as Challenger exploded into an expansive ball of fire, smoke and steam. An "Oh. . . no!" came as the crew's final utterance from the shuttle as the orbiter broke-up. As the reality of what she was seeing became apparent, Pilot Michael John Smith's daughter, 9 year old Erin Smith, could be heard yelling, "Daddy! Daddy! I want you, Daddy! You promised nothing would happen!" Unfortunately, the events of that tragic day could have been easily prevented. Weather had been the main cause for five delays during the last month. The launch had been carried out in spite on the fact that weather was the worst it had ever been in NASA's history of manned space flight. With so many !delays encountered in that twenty-fifth shuttle mission, NASA had become careless in getting Challenger on its way. As Challenger sat on the pad awaiting it's ill-fated mission, there were signs that there was something wrong with the Rig
the shuttle was enveloped in flame. Now all NASA could do was watch as the shuttle was destroyed. It was not until weeks later that an investigation team realized how easily it could have been prevented. Because NASA was so preoccupied with getting up to schedule, no one was looking for any signs of failure. "Major Malfunction", a phrase that stuck with everyone watching the launch that day. Although later, flight commentator Nesbit would be commended for remaining calm by some people, many people described the statement as "the understatement of the century". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ le to prevent the pipes from freezing. Similar ice problems had prevented the space shuttle Discovery from being launched a year earlier, regardless of that, the Challenger was allowed to proceed with the launch. Weather conditions for this launch were the worst in NASA's history of manned space flight. However, the weather was a concern for more than one reason. Separate from the problem the ice posed for the launch; the cold would prove to be a concern for the O-rings in the SRBs, holding back the extremely flammable liquid hydrogen. "The night before liftoff , engineer Roger Boisjoly had implored his supervisors at Martin Thiokol - the Utah company that made the solid rockets that boost the shuttle into orbit- to recommend that NASA delay the launch. The cold, he said -- temperatures would fall to 27 degrees that night - might effect the rubber O-ring seals, thus allowing exhaust gasses to leak from the rocket joints. If that happened he said, Challenger could explod!
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2903
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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