Challenger
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
The Challenger explosion not only changed the way space travel was perceived it also had a lasting impact on the 80's generation. It was the first time a civilian was entering space and also would be the most tragic space disaster to date. January 28, 1986 is a day that wills peremantly be engraved into everyone's minds for the rest of their lives. This day was one of the days that you can remember exactly where you were and exactly what you were doing when you found out the news of the accident. Not many events in someone's lifetime will do that but the Challenger explosion was one of these tragic and chilling events. NASA's media coordinator said "We're not looking for a Superman; we're looking for the person who can do the best job of describing his or her experiences on the shuttle to the most people on Earth." (McAuliffe). Christa McAuliffe was chosen out of 11, 500 applications because she was just an ordinary Social Studies teacher from Concord High School in Concord, New Hampshire (McAuliffe). In the application Christa stated that to her students she was a marvelous teacher who made their lessons come alive and that the trip into space would be the ultimate field trip. When Challenger took flight small flashes of flames were seen shot across the shuttles wings. These three flames lasted only 1/13 of a second and had been seen on other shuttle missions so they were not viewed as a problem (Mahal). These three quick flames were completely unrelated to the flame that was seen later in flight. Almost a minute into the flight at 58.8 seconds a flame is seen coming from the shuttles Single Rocket Boaster (Mahal). Only a fraction of a second later the flame was well defined and could be seen without enhancing the film. This flame began to burn hotter eventually getting to the intense heat of 5600 degrees making the External Tank hot and weak (Mahal). Christa nor the rest of the Challenger crew would ever get to experience this "Ultimate field trip" because the crew and shuttle only made it seventy three seconds into launch. It was at the time that the shuttle would blow up and eventually fall eleven miles into the ocean killing everyone aboard the shuttle. What actually happened at launch? What mechanically caused the explosio
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Approximate Word count = 1519
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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