Preview

NASA: The Cause Of The NASA Disaster

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
354 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
NASA: The Cause Of The NASA Disaster
NASA who put a man on the moon, and inspired millions and millions of people, devastated our confidence and broke our hearts in an instant on January 28th, 1986. The magnificent ship exploded and dropped into the ocean. The disaster claimed all lives onboard. In the week that followed sorrow turned into rage, as the exact causes of the disaster became known. The two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had faileddue to cold temperature. NASA and its contractor had evidence that rocket motor O-rings could fail below 53 degrees Fahrenheit, but NASA had previously launch shuttle below 53F and gotten away with it many times so, NASA was confident that O-rings would not fail. NASA decided to ignore

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the following case study, we’ll have a brief analysis of the disaster that took place with the “Challenger Space Shuttle” and the role played by the 3 most important players: Thiokol, NASA and the White House. At the end we will discuss the things that could have prevented not only this but all major disasters that take place in various organizations.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All in all, NASA's decision to launch the shuttle was imperfect. The top level decision makers had not been informed of problems with the joints and O rings or the possible damaging effects of cold weather. Shuttle designers made several technical alterations, including an improved O ring design and procedural changes which included stricter safety reviews and more restrictive launching conditions.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Apollo 13 Failure

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Apollo 13 was an ordinary launch, but disaster was near. Things weren't even going well pre-launch, as one of the crew members had contracted german measles, so he was left behind and replaced. They launched, and everything seemed to being going smoothly. The astronauts held a 49 minute TV broadcast, but 9 minutes later, an explosion shook the craft. Oxygen tank two blew up, causing number one to fail. They say gas venting out of the side of the ship. Also, ⅔ of the power cells had failed, so everything noncritical was turned off. Because of the failures, they had to conserve water and watch carbon monoxide levels. There wasn't enough power to purify water, so it was estimated to run out 5 hours until earth re-entry. Carbon Monoxide was also a problem, as the filters were broken and the extra ones from the lander were not compatible with the cockpit. They fashioned an adapter with tape, cardboard and plastic bags. Eventually, they made it home safely. Apollo 13 was a disaster, but thanks to clever people at mission control and an atent crew, everyone made it home…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever heard of Apollo 13?, it was a big thing back in 1970. Apollo 13 was a space craft that had exploded, but the people in the space craft survived because it only got half of their ship. But they kept getting more and more problems. But my claim is that it was a success.…

    • 210 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Apollo 13 Essay

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The actual launch of the Apollo 13 was on April 11, 1970. Two days into the mission it looked like the smoothest flight that the Apollo program had ever seen. "The spacecraft is in real good shape as far as we are concerned. We're bored to tears down here." said Joe Kerwin of mission control (3). At 55 hours the crew held a TV broadcast for 49 minutes where they showed off their living conditions and how they worked in weightless situations. Nine minutes after the broadcast mission control instructed that Odyssey to give their oxygen tanks a stir and moments later oxygen tank No.2 in the service module exploded, due to an exposed fan wire. The eruption then damaged oxygen tank No.1, causing them to start to lose oxygen rapidly. The cover of…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The three men on the mission were Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, and Jim Lovell. The flight was planning on landing on the moon but unfortunately something went wrong, one of two fuel cell oxygen tanks in the service module had exploded. Damaged Teflon insulation on the wires to the stirring fan inside oxygen tank 2 allowed the wires to short-circuit and ignite the insulation. The lives of the three astronauts were threatened because of the massive internal damage in the spacecraft. NASA had to make the decision between landing on the moon and getting home safely. They decided to get everyone home so they then had to come up a plan to do so. They were able to do so but it took a lot…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Apollo Program History

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Amidst the shortcoming of the Cold War, the goal of the 1960’s was “to go above and beyond” in space exploration by successfully landing a man on the moon, which would serve as a gambit to conceivably lead the United States to victory. Before astronauts ventured beyond the earth, scientists had to assess the space environment and the hazards of human exploration. Soon after President John F. Kennedy assumed office in January of 1961, the space race was undoubtedly underway, and the United State’s primary focus was landing a man on the moon--hence, the Apollo Program. These Apollo Missions are significant in that America received technical credibility and hasted the end of the Cold War in our favor. Also, Carole Stott, a long-time astronomer…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who had been selected to join the mission and teach lessons from space to schoolchildren around the country. The other astronauts on challenger’s last flight were: Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair, and Greg Jarvis. All seven of the crew members were dedicated and ready to make history. After the explosion the commission took picture and, examined the leftover pieces of the shuttle. The commission soon identified failure of the O-rings as the cause of the accident. Photos and videotape of the launch showed a fire plume escaping from the right solid rocket booster. The flame grew larger and eventually burned through the bottom connecting strut that held the booster to the external tank. (Cole, Michael D.pg.22) The photos and videos helped find out what exactly happened during the explosion. Failure of one of the solid rocket booster joints, including the rubber O-rings, was determined to have caused the accident. The black smoke, the first sign of the disaster, came from the O-rings being incinerated by the rocket's normal exhaust gases. And why did the O-rings fall? At launch it was only 2.22 degrees Celsius, more than 8 degrees Celsius colder than at the previous coldest launch. In such cold the rubber O-rings lost much of their flexibility (one of the commission's…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fggds

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The challenger explosion happened because there was a broken O ring. If the scientists didn’t overlook this problem then those people who died in the explosion would have lived the carelessness of these people cost the other people their life. I think that this could have been easily stopped the flight could have been postponed or even cancelled but it wasn’t and cost 7 people their life the families blame the space program for these deaths.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pros Of The Space Race

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    On July 20, 1969, America achieved its long sought victory of landing a manned spacecraft on the moon (“Time Line”). “Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon while crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the moon alone.” (“Time Line”). This final victory allowed the United States to overall win and end the Space…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Space Race Essay

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The first landing on the moon was an incredible milestone for humans. It marked the end of the Space Race, the creation of advanced technologies, and the unification of the USA. The start of the space race saw the Soviet Union take a giant head start over the United States of America with the successful launch of Sputnik, a Soviet Union satellite launched on October 4th, 1957. The Soviets also launched Sputnik 2, which contained a live passenger, but the passenger died due to the overheating of the cabin and Sputnik 2’s batteries died after only 6 days in space. The US attempted to catch up to the Soviet’s progress with the attempted launch on December 6, 1957, of the Vanguard.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    NASA Scenarios

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Imagine that you are soaring through space, marveling in its’ beauty and glory. You realize man’s insignificance as you peer out the tiny porthole looking at the milky radiance as you cruise silently through the “phosphorescent sea”. You are pulled from your gaze by the sound of your onboard printer working away, and then reality hits you. It is your daily 6 foot long list of tasks that NASA has sent you after they finished their daily gripe session about being overworked, understaffed, and underpaid. NASA sure knew how to treat the three Skylab crews.…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Influence Of NASA

    • 61 Words
    • 1 Page

    Since NASA was established it has achieved many scientific and technological goals in space. Without NASA, our lives would be a lot different. NASA has sponsored many space travels that have provided information about our solar system and universe. NASA has launched many satellites that have been very useful in everything from forecasting the weather to communicating with aircraft during…

    • 61 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Last year NASA discovered an asteroid that orbits the Earth. It orbits the sun and circles the Earth too so it is a satellite. This asteroid will be orbiting the Earth for centuries. This asteroid that orbits the Earth is called HO3. In the asteroid’s trip around the sun it spends half its orbit closer to the sun than Earth, it also passes ahead of our planet, and about half of its orbit farther away. It is too distant to be a true satellite of our planet, but it is the best and most stable example to date of a near-Earth companion, or "quasi-satellite."…

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Science Fiction Disaster

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Science fiction films can tell a lot about how Americans think about the environment and the entanglements between them. Science Fiction and disaster films are not a unique phenomena in American cinema. These films are also in cultures that produce movies. Japan would be one of these cultures with the films like Godzilla and The Sinking of Japan. Movies provide an insight into what these people fear while also giving commentary as to what people think of the world. Ever since the 1950’s Science fiction has merged with disaster films. These films are more common in american cinema than natural disaster this is due to the high profits that they produce. Today’s Hollywood has recently produced a hybrid genre involving environmental disaster and science fiction. This disaster is either manmade or something that nature has produced. This production of disaster is the entanglement I’m referring too. These films show the constant struggle of man attempting to control nature and nature unwilling to be chained by man.Films have always adapted to what was going on at the time. These movies demonstrate how the Hollywood portrays the manifestation of environmental fears of Americans in science fiction films. In addition, these films provide a sense of hope because they are able to show people that they have the technology to overcome these pressing…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays