The Space Shuttle Challenger crash: 33 years of one of the worst tragedies in space

The January 28, 1986at 11:38 local time Florida, 33 years ago, the Space Shuttle Challenger, exploded in the air 73 seconds after its takeoff at the base of Cape Canaveral, in one of the worst accidents in the history of astronautics.

The launch was seen live since its transmission took place all over the country as it was the program's first mission. "Teachers in the space" (professors in space), whose aim was to draw the public's attention once again to the program of inhabited spaces.

The STS-51L was part of the program of the 25th Space Shuttle, launched in 1981 to provide a reusable vehicle that would reduce the costs of access to space. Of the three system components, two of them (the orbiter and solid-propulsion engines) were reused for later missions, while the third (the external fuel tank) was built new for each one of them.

This would be the second mission of 1986, the first one was executed by STS-61C on January 12, two weeks before the launch of the Challenger, and the first of this orbiter that year.

In addition to the "Teachers in Space" program, another of the objectives who had the mission was to perform experiments related to Halley's Cometwhat would happen on February 9th for perihelion.

In addition, astronauts would orbit a communications satellite and perform other scientific tasks on fluid dynamics.

Of the January 22, the original day of takeoff, sand went to 28 with the fear that the delay would complicate the schedule launches planned for this year.

The cold January 28, 1 ° C below freezing, had made the Thiokol engineers, who had built solid propulsion engines (SRB) on both sides of the orbiter, extremely worried the days before takeoff.

It was too cold for the O-rings that sealed the different stages of the SRB. Engineers could not guarantee its elasticity or its resistance to pressure and temperature constraints difficult weather conditions, but the pressure not to delay further the mission was eventually imposed and the NASA approved the launch of the Challenger.

Then the disaster happened: the shuttle took off from Launch Complex 39B at 1138 local time, and at 73 seconds the Challenger exploded.

The official cause of the accident is a failure of one of the impulse motors.

"We cry seven heroes"said President Reagan.

All members of the team, Francis "Dick" Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik and Christa McAuliffe, He died because of the accident.

The dramatic accident thwarted NASA's aspiration to send civilians into space to engage the company in its explorations, seek support for its costly funding and get the views of professors, journalists and other professionals who can make a literary contribution.

NASA shuttles stopped flying in July 2011 and all they have left are museum pieces in Cape Canaveral. The US agency has since used the Russian space shuttle Soyuz to move its astronauts pending the arrival of new ships under test as planned. SpaceX and Boeing.