In March 1986, the remains of the astronauts were found in the debris of the crew cabin. Within a day of the shuttle tragedy, salvage operations recovered hundreds of pounds of metal from the Challenger. More than a decade after the Challenger disaster, two large pieces from the spacecraft washed ashore at a local beach. Of the Challenger astronauts, Reagan said: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”ĥ. Widely regarded as one of the best speeches of his presidency, the 650-word address ended with a moving quote from the poem “High Flight,” by the American pilot John McGee Jr., who was killed while flying for the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Reagan postponed his annual message to the nation (the first, and so far only, time in history a president has done so) and addressed the nation about the Challenger instead. ![]() But the rumors that pressure was exerted from above, specifically from the Reagan White House, in order to connect the shuttle or its astronauts directly in some way with the State of the Union seem to have been politically motivated and not based on any direct evidence. NASA officials apparently felt intense pressure to push the Challenger’s mission forward after repeated delays, partially due to difficulties getting the previous shuttle, Columbia, back on the ground. ![]() Some suggested that the White House pushed NASA to launch the shuttle in time for President Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address But the cabin hit the water’s surface (at more than 200 mph) a full 2 minutes and 45 seconds after the shuttle broke apart, and it’s unknown whether any of the crew could have regained consciousness in the final few seconds of the fall. It’s likely that the Challenger’s crew survived the initial breakup of the shuttle but lost consciousness due to loss of cabin pressure and probably died due to oxygen deficiency pretty quickly. The pieces-including the crew cabin-reached an altitude of some 65,000 feet before falling out of the sky into the Atlantic Ocean below. Without its fuel tank and boosters beneath it, however, powerful aerodynamic forces soon pulled the orbiter apart. The fuel tank itself collapsed and tore apart, and the resulting flood of liquid oxygen and hydrogen created the huge fireball believed by many to be an explosion.Īfter the collapse of its fuel tank, the Challenger itself remained momentarily intact and actually continued moving upwards. The astronauts aboard the shuttle didn’t die instantly.Ī seal in the shuttle’s right solid-fuel rocket booster designed to prevent leaks from the fuel tank during liftoff weakened in the frigid temperatures and failed, and hot gas began pouring through the leak. Experts believe the crew died instantly.2. Joseph Kerwin, a biomedical specialist at the Johnson Space Center, who carried out the Challenger investigation said: “The forces to which the crew were exposed during orbiter break-up were probably not sufficient to cause death or serious injury.”īy contrast, Columbia was travelling at over 20,000 km/h at an altitude of 63,000 metres when it broke up. ![]() Some evidence emerged that at least some of the crew remained conscious for several seconds after the explosion that tore the shuttle apart.Ĭhallenger exploded at an altitude of 14,640 metres, only 73 seconds after lift off. After the 1986 Challenger explosion, which also resulted in the death of seven astronauts, the cause of death was never positively established. The cause of death will be more difficult to establish. The center also handled the remains of victims killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.įorensic experts are confident the remains of the astronauts can be formally identified using standard techniques such as matching dental records, fingerprints and DNA. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, which handled the bodies of the Challenger crew after it exploded in 1986. The remains may in due course be sent to the Charles C. NASA had initially stated that remains from all seven astronauts had been recovered, but later issued a retraction.
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