Rockets Space Shuttle Challenger

Richard Feynman loved to play the bongos. He also loved solving problems. He figured out the reason for the space shuttle Challenger s 1986 explosion by showing that cold weather caused the rubber seals of the booster rocket to fail. Feynman was one of the twentieth century s great theoretical physicists, a Nobel Prize winner who spent much of his career studying atoms. He knew as much about atoms as anyone in the world, and this is what he said about them in his book Six Easy Pieces ... 

Facts On January 28, 1986, at 11 38 a.m. EST, the US Space Shuttle Challenger took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Mission 51L. Seventy-three seconds after takeoff, a fire that had broken out on the right solid rocket booster led to an explosion of the adjacent external fuel tank. The shuttle system disintegrated and the orbiter plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean. All seven crew members (Figure 4.6) perished. 

Feynman gave the United States a lesson in how science works when he used a simple experiment to uncover the reason for the disastrous explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. On launch day, January 28, 1986, the weather was unusually cold in Florida—the temperature was 29°F. A few moments after launch, the world watched in horror as the shuttle and its rockets exploded in a gigantic fireball, killing all the astronauts aboard. 

Flight of the space shuttle Challenger on mission 51-L began at 11 38 a.m. (EST) on January 28, 1986. It ended 73 seconds later in an explosive burn of hydrogen and oxygen propellants that destroyed the external tank and exposed the orbiter to severe aerod5mamic loads that caused complete structural breakup. All seven crew members perished. The two solid rocket boosters flew out of the fireball and were destroyed by the Air Force range safety officer 110 seconds after launch. 

Figure 9.3 The space shuttle Challenger just prior to launch. The arrow points to puff of smoke coming from the right solid rocket booster. (Source Reference 1.)...

A combustion gas leak through the right solid rocket motor aft field joint initiated at or shortly after ignition eventually weakened and/or penetrated the external tank initiating vehicle structural breakup and loss of the space shuttle Challenger during STS Mission 51-L... 

Prepare a report describing events that happened after the space shuttle Challenger accident. Address the following questions. What was the Reagan Administration s reaction to the Commission report What effects did the accident have on NASA, the rocket booster contractor, and on future plans for space flight ... 

Challenge The ionic compound NH4CIO4 is a key reactant used in solid rocket boosters, such as those that power the Space Shuttle into orbit. Name this compound. 

January 28,1986, Cape Canaveral, FL. The 0-ring seal in the booster rocket eroded and blow-by burned a hole in the external fuel tank. Suddenly, mission 51 -L exploded before a world-wide audience on live television. The screens in the control room went blank only a white S remained at the top of each mission control monitor screen. Seventy seconds after launch the Challenger space shuttle fell in pieces from 50,000 ft to the ocean below. ... 

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