![]() ![]() Investigations pointed towards a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system on the leading edge of the orbiter’s left wing. From left to right: David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, Ilan Ramon. ![]() India-born Kalpana Chawla and six other astronauts - Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon - perished in one of the worst US space mishaps. ![]() STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program - the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by NASA, which undertook routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. The teacher, also the first civilian to head to space, was to conduct lessons for schoolchildren from orbit.Īfter completing STS-107, the space shuttle disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas. The shuttle mission, which was NASA’s 25th, was supposed to be a six-day mission wherein, the seven-member crew was to deploy a large communications satellite, deploy and retrieve an astronomy payload to study Halley’s Comet. Ice had formed on the shuttle amid freezing temperatures as Challenger remained on the launch pad overnight. The mission was given a go-ahead despite concerns raised by some shuttle program employees. The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The other crew members on board were mission specialists Ronald E McNair, Ellison S Onizuka, and Judith A Resnik payload specialist Gregory B Jarvis and S Christa McAuliffe, a teacher. The last Challenger mission, dubbed STS-51L, was commanded by Francis R “Dick” Scobee and piloted by Michael J Smith. The O-ring seals are used to keep fluids from leaking and components sealed. The spacecraft broke apart on Januafter it suffered a major malfunction less than 2 minutes into its flight with investigations revealing freezing temperatures having affected the integrity of O-ring seals in the solid rocket booster segment joints. What was the Challenger space shuttle disaster? ![]()
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