HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' (OV-099) was a
Space Shuttle orbiter The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1977 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, thi ...
manufactured by
Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...
and operated by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, ''Challenger'' was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after '' Columbia'', and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in an accident that killed all seven crewmembers aboard. Initially manufactured as a test article not intended for spaceflight, it was utilized for ground testing of the Space Shuttle orbiter's structural design. However, after NASA found that their original plan to upgrade ''
Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...
'' for spaceflight would be more expensive than upgrading ''Challenger'', the orbiter was pressed into operational service in the
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
. Lessons learned from the first orbital flights of ''Columbia'' led to ''Challenger''s design possessing fewer
thermal protection system Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
tiles and a lighter fuselage and wings. This led to it being lighter than ''Columbia'', though still heavier than ''
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...
''. During its three years of operation, ''Challenger'' was flown on ten missions in the Space Shuttle program, spending over 62 days in space and completing almost 1,000 orbits around Earth. Following its maiden flight, ''Challenger'' supplanted ''Columbia'' as the leader of the Space Shuttle fleet, being the most-flown orbiter during all three years of its operation while ''Columbia'' itself was seldom used during the same time frame. ''Challenger'' was used for numerous civilian satellite launches, such as the first
tracking and data relay satellite A tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and fro ...
, the Palapa B communications satellites, the
Long Duration Exposure Facility NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility, or LDEF (pronounced "eldef"), was a school bus-sized cylindrical facility designed to provide long-term experimental data on the outer space environment and its effects on space systems, materials, operatio ...
, and the
Earth Radiation Budget Satellite The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) is a NASA scientific research satellite within NASA's ERBE (Earth Radiation Budget Experiment) Research Program - a three-satellite mission, designed to investigate the Earth radiation budget. It also ...
. It was also used as a test bed for the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and served as the platform to repair the malfunctioning SolarMax telescope. In addition, three consecutive
Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...
missions were conducted with the orbiter in 1985, one of which being the first German crewed spaceflight mission. Passengers carried into orbit by ''Challenger'' include the first American female astronaut, the first American female spacewalker, the first African-American astronaut, and the first Canadian astronaut. On its tenth flight in January 1986, ''Challenger'' disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff, killing the seven-member crew of STS-51-L that included
Christa McAuliffe Sharon Christa McAuliffe ( Corrigan; September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who was killed on the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L where she was serving as a ...
, who would have been the first teacher in space. The
Rogers Commission The Rogers Commission Report was written by a Presidential Commission charged with investigating the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster during its 10th mission, STS-51-L. The report, released and submitted to President Ronald Reagan on Jun ...
convened shortly afterwards concluded that an
O-ring An O-ring, also known as a packing or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a round cross-section, designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more par ...
seal in one of ''Challenger''s
solid rocket boosters A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and space shuttle, have used SRBs to giv ...
failed to contain pressurized burning gas that leaked out of the booster, causing a structural failure of ''Challenger''s
external tank The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to ...
and the orbiter's subsequent disintegration due to aerodynamic forces. NASA's organizational culture was also scrutinized by the Rogers Commission, and the Space Shuttle program's goal of replacing the United States' expendable launch systems was cast into doubt. The loss of ''Challenger'' and its crew led to a broad rescope of the program, and numerous aspects – such as launches from Vandenberg, the MMU, and
Shuttle-Centaur Shuttle-Centaur was a version of the Centaur upper stage rocket designed to be carried aloft inside the Space Shuttle and used to launch satellites into high Earth orbits or probes into deep space. Two variants were developed: Centaur G-Prime ...
– were scrapped to improve crew safety; ''Challenger'' and ''
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
'' were the only orbiters modified to conduct Shuttle-Centaur launches. The recovered remains of the orbiter are mostly buried in a
missile silo A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs ...
located at Cape Canaveral LC-31, though one piece is on display at the
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus to ...
.


History

''Challenger'' was named after HMS ''Challenger'', a British corvette that was the command ship for the ''Challenger'' Expedition, a pioneering global marine research expedition undertaken from 1872 through 1876."Orbiter Vehicles"
,
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, 2000-10-03, retrieved November 7, 2007.
The
Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...
Lunar Module, which landed on the Moon in 1972, was also named ''Challenger''.


Construction

Because of the low production volume of orbiters, the Space Shuttle program decided to build a vehicle as a Structural Test Article, STA-099, that could later be converted to a flight vehicle. The contract for STA-099 was awarded to North American Rockwell on July 26, 1972, and construction was completed in February 1978. After STA-099's rollout, it was sent to a Lockheed test site in Palmdale, where it spent over 11 months in vibration tests designed to simulate entire shuttle flights, from launch to landing. To prevent damage during structural testing, qualification tests were performed to a
safety factor In engineering, a factor of safety (FoS), also known as (and used interchangeably with) safety factor (SF), expresses how much stronger a system is than it needs to be for an intended load. Safety factors are often calculated using detailed analy ...
of 1.2 times the design limit loads. The qualification tests were used to validate computational models, and compliance with the required 1.4 factor of safety was shown by analysis. STA-099 was essentially a complete airframe of a Space Shuttle orbiter, with only a mockup crew module installed and thermal insulation placed on its forward fuselage. NASA planned to refit the prototype orbiter ''Enterprise'' (OV-101), used for flight testing, as the second operational orbiter; but ''Enterprise'' lacked most of the systems needed for flight, including a functional propulsion system, thermal insulation, a life support system, and most of the cockpit instrumentation. Modifying it for spaceflight was considered to be too difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Since STA-099 was not as far along in the construction of its airframe, it would be easier to upgrade to a flight article. Because STA-099's qualification testing prevented damage, NASA found that rebuilding STA-099 as a flight worthy orbiter would be less expensive than refitting ''Enterprise''. Work on converting STA-099 to operational status began in January 1979, starting with the crew module (the pressurized portion of the vehicle), as the rest of the vehicle was still being used for testing by Lockheed. STA-099 returned to the Rockwell plant in November 1979, and the original, unfinished crew module was replaced with the newly constructed model. Major parts of STA-099, including the payload bay doors, body flap, wings, and vertical stabilizer, also had to be returned to their individual subcontractors for rework. By early 1981, most of these components had returned to Palmdale to be reinstalled. Work continued on the conversion until July 1982, when the new orbiter was rolled out as ''Challenger''. ''Challenger'', as did the orbiters built after it, had fewer tiles in its
Thermal Protection System Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
than ''Columbia'', though it still made heavier use of the white LRSI tiles on the cabin and main fuselage than did the later orbiters. Most of the tiles on the payload bay doors, upper wing surfaces, and rear fuselage surfaces were replaced with
DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
white
Nomex Nomex is a flame-resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967. Properties Nomex and related aramid polymers are related to nylon, but have aromatic backbones, and hence are more rigid and mo ...
felt insulation. These modifications and an overall lighter structure allowed ''Challenger'' to carry 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) more payload than ''Columbia.'' ''Challenger''s fuselage and wings were stronger and lighter than ''Columbia''s. The hatch and vertical-stabilizer tile patterns were different from those of the other orbiters. ''Challenger'' was the first orbiter to have a
head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
system for use in the
descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree ** Ancestry ** Lineal descendant **Heritag ...
phase of a mission, and the first to feature Phase I main engines rated for 104% maximum thrust.


Construction milestones (as STA-099)


Construction milestones (as OV-099)


Flights and modifications

After its
first flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
in April 1983, ''Challenger'' quickly became the workhorse of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
fleet, flying six of nine Space Shuttle missions in 1983 and 1984. Even when the orbiters ''Discovery'' and ''Atlantis'' joined the fleet, ''Challenger'' flew three missions a year from 1983 to 1985. ''Challenger'', along with ''Atlantis'', was modified at
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
to be able to carry the
Centaur-G Shuttle-Centaur was a version of the Centaur (rocket stage), Centaur upper stage rocket designed to be carried aloft inside the Space Shuttle and used to launch satellites into high Earth orbits or probes into deep space. Two variants were dev ...
upper stage in its payload bay. If flight STS-51-L had been successful, ''Challenger''s next mission would have been the deployment of the ''Ulysses'' probe with the Centaur to study the polar regions of the Sun. ''Challenger'' flew the first American woman,
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
, Dutchman, and
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
into space; carried three
Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...
missions; and performed the first night launch and night landing of a Space Shuttle.


Final mission and destruction

STS-51-L was the orbiter's tenth and final flight, initially planned to launch on January 26, 1986 (after several technical and paperwork delays). This mission attracted huge media attention, as one of the crew was a civilian schoolteacher,
Christa McAuliffe Sharon Christa McAuliffe ( Corrigan; September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who was killed on the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L where she was serving as a ...
, who was assigned to carry out live lessons from the orbiter (as part of NASA's
Teacher in Space Project The Teacher in Space Project (TISP) was a NASA program announced by Ronald Reagan in 1984 designed to inspire students, honor teachers, and spur interest in mathematics, science, and space exploration. The project would carry teachers into space ...
). Other members would deploy the
TDRS-B TDRS-B was an American communications satellite, of first generation, which was to have formed part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was destroyed in 1986 when the disintegrated 73 seconds after launch. Launch TDRS-B was la ...
satellite and conduct comet observations. ''Challenger'' blasted off at 11:38 am EST on January 28, 1986. Just over a minute into the flight, the faulty booster joint opened up, leading to a flame that melted securing struts which resulted in a catastrophic structural failure and explosion of the
External Tank The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to ...
. The resulting pressure waves and aerodynamic forces destroyed the orbiter, resulting in the loss of all the crew. ''Challenger'' was the first Space Shuttle to be
destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a ...
in a mission accident. The collected debris of the vessel is currently buried in decommissioned
missile silos A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM ...
at Launch Complex 31,
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...
. A section of the fuselage recovered from Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' can also be found at the "Forever Remembered" memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Debris from the orbiter sometimes washes up on the Florida coast. This is collected and transported to the silos for storage. Because of its early loss, ''Challenger'' was the only Space Shuttle that never wore the NASA "meatball" logo, and was never modified with the MEDS "glass cockpit". The tail was never fitted with a drag chute, which was fitted to the remaining orbiters in 1992. ''Challenger'' and sister ship ''Columbia'' are the only two shuttles that never visited the Mir Space Station or the International Space Station. In September 2020
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
released '' Challenger: The Final Flight'', a four-part miniseries created by Steven Leckart and Glen Zipper documenting the tragedy firsthand.


Lawsuits

In March 1988 the federal government and Morton Thiokol Inc. agreed to pay $7.7 million in cash and annuities to the families of four of the seven ''Challenger'' astronauts as part of a settlement aimed at avoiding lawsuits in the nation's worst space disaster, according to government documents. The documents show that Morton Thiokol, which manufactured the faulty solid rocket boosters blamed for the accident, paid 60 percent, or $4,641,000. The remainder, $3,094,000, was paid by the government. In September 1988 a federal judge dismissed two lawsuits seeking $3 billion from Space Shuttle rocket-maker Morton Thiokol Inc. by
Roger Boisjoly Roger Mark Boisjoly ( ,; April 25, 1938 – January 6, 2012) was an American mechanical engineer, fluid dynamicist, and an aerodynamicist. He is best known for having raised strenuous objections to the launch of the Space Shuttle ''Chal ...
, a former company engineer who warned against the ill-fated 1986 ''Challenger'' launch.


List of missions


Mission and tribute insignias

* Mission canceled due to loss of ''Challenger'' on STS-51-L.


See also

*
List of human spaceflights This is a list of all human spaceflights throughout history. Beginning in 1961 with the flight of Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, human spaceflight occurs when a human crew flies a spacecraft into outer space. Human spaceflight is distinguished ...
*
List of Space Shuttle crews This is a list of persons who served aboard Space Shuttle crews, arranged in chronological order by Space Shuttle missions. Abbreviations: * PC = Payload Commander * MSE = USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineer * Mir = Launched to be part of the crew ...
* List of Space Shuttle missions * Timeline of Space Shuttle missions * List of human spaceflights chronologically * ''Challenger'' flag * Challenger Colles, mountain range on
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...
named for the Space Shuttle


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Ronald Reagan: Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger''









Space Shuttle ''Challenger'': A Tribute
– slideshow by ''
Life (magazine) ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...
''
''Go or No Go: The Challenger Legacy''
an Emmy-winning short documentary by
Retro Report Retro Report is a non-profit news organization that produces short-form documentaries for historical context of current news stories. The organization describes itself as a counterweight to the 24-hour news cycle. They have covered topics includi ...

''Challenger'' Mission Videos of the Accident from Spaceflightnow.com

NASA film on the accident and investigation downloadable from archive.org The Internet Archive


* ttp://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt Personal Observations on the Reliability of the Shuttle by R. P. Feynman
RealPlayer video of Feynman's O-Ring demonstration (low quality)

CBS Radio news Bulletin Anchored by Christopher Glenn of the ''Challenger'' Disaster from January 28, 1986Part 2 of CBS Radio coverage of ''Challenger'' DisasterPart 3 of CBS Radio News coverage of ''Challenger'' disasterPart 4 of CBS Radio news coverage of ''Challenger'' disaster



Space Shuttle Memorial covering both space shuttle disasters

Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' STS-51L Accident Investigation
{{Use American English, date=January 2014 Challenger Challenger * Destroyed spacecraft Individual rockets Individual aircraft