Has it already been 20 years since the Challenger was destroyed? It happened Jan. 28, 1986. What do you guys remember about it?
I remember my Dad keeping my sisters and I home from school that day just to watch it. My Dad worked out of town for weeks at a time so it was a real treat to actually stay home with him for something like this. I'm not sure if I ever remember doing that any aother time in my life. We were watching it on TV and were just stunned when it blew up. One of those moments you will never forget.
________________________________________________________
I was reminded of it by an interesting article on msnbc about titled "7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster : It didn't explode, the crew didn't die instantly and it wasn't inevitable" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097
This was the myth that really got me.
Myth #3: The crew died instantly
The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch. After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 ft before arching back down into the water. The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then.
What's less clear is whether they were conscious. If the cabin depressurized (as seems likely), the crew would have had difficulty breathing. In the words of the final report by fellow astronauts, the crew “possibly but not certainly lost consciousness”, even though a few of the emergency air bottles (designed for escape from a smoking vehicle on the ground) had been activated.
The cabin hit the water at a speed greater than 200 mph, resulting in a force of about 200 G’s — crushing the structure and destroying everything inside. If the crew did lose consciousness (and the cabin may have been sufficiently intact to hold enough air long enough to prevent this), it’s unknown if they would have regained it as the air thickened during the last seconds of the fall. Official NASA commemorations of “Challenger’s 73-second flight” subtly deflect attention from what was happened in the almost three minutes of flight (and life) remaining AFTER the breakup.
________________________________________________________________
Can you imagine if they didn't die when everone thought they had and were actually awake falling that fast and watching the water racing up at them. Crazy stuff.
Try to rememeber to have a toast later to the people that died that day and in all the other NASA accidents over the years. Only by pushing forward will we one day live among the stars.
I remember my Dad keeping my sisters and I home from school that day just to watch it. My Dad worked out of town for weeks at a time so it was a real treat to actually stay home with him for something like this. I'm not sure if I ever remember doing that any aother time in my life. We were watching it on TV and were just stunned when it blew up. One of those moments you will never forget.
________________________________________________________
I was reminded of it by an interesting article on msnbc about titled "7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster : It didn't explode, the crew didn't die instantly and it wasn't inevitable" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097
This was the myth that really got me.
Myth #3: The crew died instantly
The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch. After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 ft before arching back down into the water. The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then.
What's less clear is whether they were conscious. If the cabin depressurized (as seems likely), the crew would have had difficulty breathing. In the words of the final report by fellow astronauts, the crew “possibly but not certainly lost consciousness”, even though a few of the emergency air bottles (designed for escape from a smoking vehicle on the ground) had been activated.
The cabin hit the water at a speed greater than 200 mph, resulting in a force of about 200 G’s — crushing the structure and destroying everything inside. If the crew did lose consciousness (and the cabin may have been sufficiently intact to hold enough air long enough to prevent this), it’s unknown if they would have regained it as the air thickened during the last seconds of the fall. Official NASA commemorations of “Challenger’s 73-second flight” subtly deflect attention from what was happened in the almost three minutes of flight (and life) remaining AFTER the breakup.
________________________________________________________________
Can you imagine if they didn't die when everone thought they had and were actually awake falling that fast and watching the water racing up at them. Crazy stuff.
Try to rememeber to have a toast later to the people that died that day and in all the other NASA accidents over the years. Only by pushing forward will we one day live among the stars.