My Father an Aerospace Engineer worked on this Challenger. He was Senior Designer for hydraulics. Joe Hernandez died from cancer three months later after the launch. Miss you Dad, thanks for your countless hours of service, dedication to NASA, and for being a pioneer since Apollo 1
This is so crazy to me. So far, you're the second person in this comment section who, either worked on the Challenger or has a close relationship to it. I'll never forget that moment
AND PEOPLE ARE SO ESLEEP. THEY WERE NEVER IN THAT SHIP, AND THE SHEEPLE STILL BELIEVE THEY DIED IN THAT SHIP. NOT ONE WAS ON THAT SHIP, AND IT CAN BE PROVEN. THIS WAR IS SPIRITUAL, AND NOT NATURAL. NASA IN HEBREW MEANS TO DECEIVE. OPEN YOUR F$%KING EYES PEOPLE TO TRUTH. .
I lived just a mile from the McAuliffe family and had Christa as a teacher for Study Hall and other classes at Concord High School, NH. One of the most heart-wrenching moments of my life was riding my bike past their house that following June, seeing Steve mowing the lawn, and watching their two young children playing in the yard.
According to two idiots replying in the post above yours this never happened. Thank you for sharing this so these freaks can't get away with that conspiracy crap here.
I was in our 8th grade math class at that moment, watching it live. When we saw the explosion, we all looked at each other in disbelief. As seconds slowly dragged by we kept hearing the remarks coming from capcom. Our teacher & my classmates kept staring at the TV. When it was over, no one knew what to say. Eventually our teacher said "You have no idea what this just did to the space program. Someday youll all better understand this historic moment"
I've experienced this more than once in my career as an engineer. Worked for a company that had a major contract deliverable to one of our biggest customers. I sat in a meeting with my boss, VP of Engineering, the CTO, CEO and head sales guy. My boss was under pressure to ship the product and was asked if it was ready to go-live. He said yes, he thought it would be OK. I called BS and threw him under the bus saying it didn't work acceptably, not even close. In its present form it was a piece of junk. Less than a week later, my boss popped his head in my office and told me my "position had been eliminated". After I moved on, I heard from others that they shipped anyway and of course the product fell flat on its face with the customer. But my boss and the execs found a way to blame the engineers for the failure and skated by.
This happened because America is run by greedy people who do care about human lives ...much like the b.s. military who gets people killed and maimed for so called protecing us from Communists
The only way you can deny a boss a product or project that will earn him/her praise, is publicly. You have to send a memo company-wide or at least division-wide to explain why you decided on delaying progress. ESPECIALLY if it's consumer safety. You can outright claim your reason for doing so as a customer safety issue, and also to mention if you're suddenly terminated, something's fishy. Forget NDA's, customer safety trumps those, especially when media are involved. Fight as dirty as you need to. Easy for me to say, but I've been where you are.
Remember vividly watching launch at home. My children were young. It was horrific. My father worked on big guns for the navy. He said straight up, " The O rings malfunctioned." He nailed it.
Ironic how the white collar people who will never be in harms way, get to veto the advice and recommendations of the blue collar people who actually designed and built the project.
...and the shame of not letting the actual people FLYING that mission know there was a possible issue. I believe the reason they didn't tell them because it's ultimately up to the captain if he wants to delay that particular mission or not.
Morton Thiokol's head engineer (looking at losing a $ 3 million contract, if it didn't launch) was surprised it cleared the tower without blowing up! I.e. Nasa politics, hard at work!
@@BWT268 You 2 forgot to think before posting! Lawyers weren't mention in the book I read on the topic! What body orfice did you 2 pull your info & feelings & ridicule out of? Inquering minds want to know!
Easier said than done. The Challenger disaster was part of the university course Engineering & Ethics. It didn't happen because it was rushed. It happened because of conflicts of interest. NASA was eager to launch because of the upcoming budgetting talks. Morton Thiokol wanted to launch because they were facing contract renewal. The engineers had data to back up their claim that it would be too cold. Corporate pressure vs. engineers. The engineers lost. The Challenger was doomed.
@@grassroot1100 but but we went to tha moon I's tells ya SIX times flawlessly many years earlier, and 1000 times farther than we've ever been!! I's tells ya, I saw'er it on the Talmudvision.
I am a 75 year old retired structural engineer. I was attached to an Lockheed engineering team in 1986 assigned to the 51 - L Challenger at Kennedy Space Center. On Jan. 28 our launch time that morning was 0915 but Houston scrubbed that liftoff waiting for warmer temperatures for ignition. At 1100 launch was approved and ignition liftoff at 1138. I remember walking around Hanger Y debating with my colleagues tat the weather still freezing and the launch should be scrubbed, Houston thought otherwise. To scrub a launch and have to down load all that liquid and solid propellant cost millions and NASA was running a tight budget. At 1138 we had ignition and launch with icicles hanging off the booster stabilizers. I felt in my gut this was a mistake.
I was a senior in highschool and we watched it in AP English. A gasp from everyone and then complete silence thru the classes and hallways. God bless them all. 🕊️🙏❤️
I was in high school as well. I was walking by the library that was showing it. I decided to walk in and watch it. I will never forget those images and the sounds of shock the moment it happenec
I was a freshman, in social studies class. Same thing, then absolute silence. You could’ve heard a pin drop. It was a Catholic, all girls school. We had a prayer service for them later in the afternoon. Not a dry eye in that assembly. I’ll never forget it. 🙏🏻😓
I was a senior in high school as well, in health class. The news came over the loudspeaker. We were all in shock. So tragic. May they all rest in peace.
I was a Freshman.. same thing.. We were in the school chapel (religious school), and it was surreal. I was awful to see live and so unexpected...NASA having the 2nd grade teacher go up, made me feel like one day it may be possible for me. As quick as the snap of a finger. BOOM. I was definitely in Shock
I was also in high school when this disaster happened as I was in the library and one of my classmates (I still remember his name) came up to me and told me that the shuttle blew up. I didn't believe him at first until I walked into the AV room in the library and the whole event was playing on the television. This event was ALMOST like the day 911 happened in that it's one of those times in history you never forget.
When a teacher makes a mistakes, they wipe the blackbkard clean. When a manager makes a mistake, he resigns and moves on. When an engineer doesnt make a mistake...and people dont listen...people die. NASA was more concerned about their public image and the many delays, now this is a stain on the Shuttle legacy. God speed to the crew of the Challenger and Columbia
I remember watching this live. It was two days after the Superbowl. I had the flu so I didn't go to work. But I was up early watching from the couch. When it happened I jumped up and started yelling that it blew up. That brought my parents and brother up the stairs where we all stared at the TV for an hour or so. I'll never forget that. RIP to the crew. 🙏☮️🇺🇸
I was home sick with mono in Canada, and just horrified seeing the McCaulliff family. I didn't understand what was happening until the news anchors explained it. It was horrible.
I was working at a convenience store near the launch and remember listening to this on the radio and going outside and seeing the aftermath in the sky.
I remember watching it as a kid. It was pretty shocking. If you have a bad feeling about something, don't ignore it. Trust your instinct. I cancelled a big contract because my instinct kept telling me that there will be huge problems. I saved a lot of money at the end.
I was a Quality Control Inspector working at Hercules Aerospace in Magna, Utah at the time of the launch. Morton Thiokol, located about 45 miles north of Hercules in Brigham City, Utah, was the company in a Joint Venture with Hercules to build the booster rockets at the time. I was at work when we heard of 'the explosion'! They wheeled a large television into the area so we could watch a recording of the launch. There were NO WORDS for what we had just witnessed! There was even a clueless idiot who said, 'no worries, the two two small trails of smoke are the escape towers'! I turned to him and said, 'the space shuttle doesn't have escape towers'! You should have seen the look of horror on his face when I told him! So, so sad! I still remember that day as if it were yesterday!
I was in the 4th grade, maybe 5th. My teacher didn't know what to do, so she turned off the TV on the cart, paused for a second, probably trying to think of something to say, then ran out of the classroom and to the principals office. I got up and turned the TV back on.
I was in our 8th grade math class at that moment, watching it live. When we saw the explosion, we all looked at each other in disbelief. As the minutes dragged on we kept hearing the remarks coming from capcom. Our teacher & my classmates kept staring at the TV. When it was over, no one knew what to say. Eventually our teacher said "You have no idea what this just did to the space program. Someday youll all better understand this historic moment"
My Dad was a mechanical engineer and worked in the space industry from 60-84. He worked in the Firing Room @ KSC overseeing the External Tank (79-84). Unfortunately we lost him to ALS in 1984 but I often think what he would have thought of that day. I have a picture of him and two fellow engineers inside the VAB inspecting the Challenger, it is very special to me as was Columbia. I watched both of these Orbiters launch in the early 80’s from KSC. Space is fragile. God help we’ve learned… RIP 🙏
What will actually chill you to the bone is the footage from the spectators in that VIP section...they were happy and cheering on the launch and then when it exploded they also cheered thinking it was part of the booster separation sequence or whatever and then it got quiet and then they some what knew something was wrong.
in 1986- it's important to know that January 28th was the coldest morning that month at Cape Canaveral FL, the low temp was 23F-- an extremely low temp for the East Coast of Central Florida. Historically, the average low temp on that day is 54F, and the average high is 73F. NASA was just crazy foolish to keep pressing to launch, but they did-- and you see what happened.
And at altitude.... Huh... Not rocket science to know how temperatures fall down to minus 40 at altitude. Not to mention the speed that rocket gets there.. Dam effing stupid just thinking of releasing that rocket. No wonder Elon Musk eats them for breakfast to day. Another clever South African.
While never in as critical position as commenting on space craft preparedness, I was a technical "expert" in a couple of fields. I was once asked by my boss (an engineer himself) why I was so vocal if I thought a decision was wrong. I told him I was under the impression that was my job. He replied that if I wanted promotion I'd be better off finding out what they wanted me to say. I asked him if that was how he got where he was. I never did get promoted.......but i don't regret it That attitude is what drives a lot of people especially once they reach management.
@@_munkykok_ Politics hasn't gotten worse, it's always been as bad or even worse for those who are marginalized by the people in charge, the web and 24-7 news coverage force everyone to see things as they have always been.
In 2009 I met an old man at Thanksgiving Dinner. I found out he had been an engineer at NASA in Clear Lake (Houston) where I had lived and we began a conversation about the Challenger. He told me that they didn't trust the tiles that were bound to start flying off shortly after liftoff. He also stated that many of them argued prolifically about this and how dangerous it was right up to the morning of January 27th. He also mentioned several other problems that were each discussed by different groups of people in charge of the launch time.
Nah, he was saying the truth. Not their day, from their perspective. From the astronauts' perspectives though, and their families and friends... That would have been an understatement.
-Contrary to popular belief, the external tank DID NOT EXPLODE. What happened was that it was overheated and due to thermal expansion, the bottom of the tank failed from overpressure and the orbiter was forced away with enough force to break the vehicle up. The sudden pressure wave was so strong that it likely knocked the astronauts out, and the cockpit/lower deck section of the vehicle separated. The whole vehicle then fell and hit the water in pieces. The impact of the front end of the orbiter at terminal velocity with water is what killed the crewmembers.
NASA said later that the break up forces probably did not incapacitate the crew, and that the G forces abated almost immediately. The crew cabin broke away, tumbling and continued to climb for another minute, then started falling toward the ocean. I believe the cabin depressurized and the crew was alive, but unconscious when the cabin hit the water.
The astronauts were not knocked out. How were air packs enabled if they were knocked out. Some were conscious for the trip down to impact with the ocean.
@erickanter the air packs were called PEAPS (peeps) and were meant for use if the shuttle had to be evacuated on the pad. They were not pressurized oxygen, just regular air, and would not have kept the crew conscious. The cabin had hundreds of inlets and connections to the cargo bay that ripped loose in the cabin separation, so very likely the cabin did depressive and the crew would have passed out and would not have regained consciousness before water impact. Of the 7 peeps, I believe 4 were recovered. The commander's was identified and had not been activated. The pilots had been activated and was some 7/10 depleted. His unit was mounted on the back of his seat frame, which meant that MS Resnik had the job of activating it, which she apparently did. Some switches indicated that Mike Smith tried to restart power units and was going through some response to the emergency, but did not finish the sequence.
I watched this live on TV in 6th grade. Didn't know what happened until the teacher momentarily turned off the TV then right back on saying that this is history and we need to see it. When we realized it, the whole class was unified together in shock and tears.
I was about 15 miles north of where many of some of the larger pieces of the Space Shuttle Columbia rained down and the sounds the crash made were very strange and very very loud with a rumbling roar, very powerful repeated sonic booms for several minutes, and bizarre wavering tones like horns and whistling too that took a long time to fade away. My drum kit`s cymbals were crashing and moving from the powerful booms and it was frightening because we had no idea what was happening and my first thought was an asteroid hit somewhere. When I went outside the bright morning sun, a few trees and fog blocked a clear view of the sky but Military helicopters were hovering low over nearby fields in groups proving to me that they expected this and were waiting and watching. Smaller pieces like tiles landed all over the region and one tile landed in a neighbor`s yard.
Very interesting. I can imagine large pieces of material at terminal velocity could make quite a shock wave upon hitting various surfaces. Water from that height would be like concrete since it is virtually incompressible.
@@bustercam199 A commercial fisherman we knew named Jimmy Cawthorn saw large pieces hitting Toledo Bend Lake in deep water...around 80 feet deep. They never found them all. I was on the Louisiana side of the top 1/3rd of the lake. They found body parts not very far to the west & southwest of this location in East Texas. I think there was a plan in place to attempt an emergency landing in the lake and the Shuttle had begun to turn to the southeast possibly attempting to line up with it. Usually they passed directly over our region above DeSoto Parish. We watched them pass directly overhead multiple times coming in for landings in Florida.
@@poindextertunes The sheer number of the black helicopters we saw that morning hovering in place before the roar died down proves to me they knew it was bad and I believe the two pilots knew about the potential for a serious problem to develop and never told the other passengers. They ordered one of the females to go ahead and get her helmet on and McCool`s eyes had a strange seriousness as he looked at the controls and numbers he was seeing.
It occurred over ocean. North is ocean too. The location of the launch facilities was to limit issues with expected failed launches. Rockets are controlled explosions. Downrange is the atlantic ocean.
Same as the Columbia disaster, multiple people who knew better jumping up & down and no one listened. Great job. As usual $$ takes precedence and minor stock dip, then biz as usual
You've got a right to be sceptical, but the Challenger disaster was much more of a preventable one than the Columbia was. The design brief of the Space Shuttle called for an temperature operating window of "above freezing" and yet they launched anyway. They had blow-by data of the SRB o-rings to back that up. The bit of insulating foam that damaged one of the leading edges of the Columbia during its launch? That catastrophical problem was much less obvious directly after it occurred. Only in hindsight was that clear.
Scary part is there was an early indication on one of the other flights. The second flight after challenger blew was Atlantis. It was a military flight so it made it harder for the people onboard to contact NASA. The fact that it was military is also the reason why they were saved. They had multiple foam strikes on the way up. The damage to the tiles was extensive. Something like 179 tiles were damaged with one removed completely. Because it was a military flight there was extra thick panelling welded in to protect certain equipment. That spot happened to be where the tile was. They would have burned through if that panel wasn’t there. Any other flight it would have done. This was how many years before Columbia and they knew about this issue and did nothing about it.
@@Hydrazine1000but they knew about foam strikes before Columbia launch. They knew years before it happened. Saying Columbia wasn’t preventable just isn’t true. Have a look at the video featuring Hoot Gibson in which he talks about the foam strike on his flight. It was the second flight after Challanger
@@cherrytraveller5915 Ok, I'll accept your point that for Columbia there were clear prior indications of problems too. The Challenger disaster is still is more egregious in my book, since (as I understand it) the NASA-specified operating temperature window for which the SBRs were designed, was not respected. Even worse (again if my recollection is correct, this was from a university course on ethics in engineering some 20+ years ago) is that the Challenger had two launch windows that fateful day. One in the morning, which they opted to use, and one in the afternoon. The O-rings _might have_ warmed up sufficiently, had they chosen the afternoon. But that's not what they did.
At least 6 NASA engineers advised against the launch, because they knew what the effect cold weather would have on the O-rings. The MAIN REASON the launch took place was because of intense pressure from the White House "To get that bird in the air!!". Reagan was delivering the State of the Union speech that evening and a big part of his speech highlighted this historical shuttle flight with Christa McAuliffe on board. Sadly, this FACT was initially buried by the press but the findings were leaked months later and relegated to the back pages of America's newspapers.
NASA bureaucrats are the reason that flight was pushed. Like most government agencies, they waste and waste good taxpayer money. Public interest in the space program was beginning to wane and they didn't want to lose their teat on the cash cow. They needed a big PR boost and that's when management decided to ignore the warnings and sacrifice that crew.
That's right. For once in his life the so-called Great Communicator had nothing to say. In fact he went into hiding like the coward he was. Sunny optimism and American Exceptionalism took a heavy punch in the gut on that day. And millions of brainwashed little kids got a reality check.
This is a bit of a secondary concern, since it's been widely reported that NASA had an ambitious launch schedule for the shuttle program, and didn't want another delay for such a high-profile and media-focused event.
I was in the Navy watching this on TV when the disaster happened. It was quite eerie to watch. One of my shipmates came up with a tasteless joke that he knew what kind of shampoo Christa McAuliffe used, because they found her head and shoulders.
'Management', 'business majors', 'MBAs', etc., should never have any authority over *engineers* and safety specialists. They live in a world of dollar signs and are disjoint from physical reality and lack knowledge of how things actually work. Safety and monetary matters always have opposite goals. Hundreds of lives lost due to Boeing's safety failures have exactly the same cause - Management overriding engineers.
In the case of Boeing, there were engineers who knew the 737Max was a very risky design, but they were overruled. There was (and perhaps still is) a corrupt relationship between Boeing management and the FAA which allowed the 737Max to get a stamp of approval it should never have had. It's what happens when profit-making organisations (corporations) are allowed to get control of government.
The next day they shut down a part of Coco Beach because they thought a piece of Ron McNair washed up. Turned out to be a radiator hose off a 57 Chevy.
Shame on you for omitting what was probably the most chilling detail. At 2 minutes 45 seconds, when the cabin hit the water, most, if not all of the crew members were still alive.
They omitted the explosion itself too. In this world , to not repeat such horrific mistakes everyone must see them raw so it strikes a chord within us. Never again can be applied to many horrible situations humanity has endured but this was extremely easy to avoid. It’s amazing how much nasa managed to disregard on project challenger. Rip to the crew and I hope the families have found peace..!
@@williegilligan2661 let's not upset the children so we all just forget about the reality of things and pretend it's all rainbows and sunshine... That'll definitely prepare us for the real world.
@@williegilligan2661 I understand, I have kids myself.. i know RUclips demonitizes stuff that’s intense but some times it’s worth it to really educate people. This video, if you didn’t already know that it exploded you may not fully understand the tragedy.. thry elude to “disaster “ but I’m tired of big brother un alive vs dead type “newspeak “ censorship.
I was in high school and our history teacher was so excited because he said he got the last TV to watch history in the making. He wheeled it in and we all sat in anticipation to watch the first space shuttle to take a teacher into space. As we watched we saw the explosion, but we were confused because we weren't sure what actually happened. Our teacher looked in horror and ran over and shut the TV off. Then our principal got on the speaker and told us it exploded and we had a moment of silence. I'll never forget that day. It's so awful to think it all could have been prevented. 🙏
Retired Air Force Captain here - I coordinated Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos emergency departure mission in Feb of 1986. We later found out about bomb threats unbeknownst to us, could have been blown out of the sky as I was on that plane.
Yeah. I remember it was made a big deal of. There was a contest for teachers and she won. That’s one of the reasons why it was shown in schools. I was four, though and didn’t enter elementary school until September of 1986, but I did watch it at home with my mother. I knew about the teacher. Overall I was scared and horrified. Felt sad for all of those people.
I was in 5th grade. I live in Florida.. we watched it live outside on the playground. Like we did all the launches...... But this was different and very sad.😢
We moved to FL in late 1985. My first job was Busch Gardens. Can still remember seeing that gas cloud after the explosion from the back dock of Das Festhaus, the place I was working at the park. It was a gut wrenching, heart breaking day, to say the least.
I was 21 in January of 1986 and I can attest to how friggin cold it was. I was driving in a blinding snow storm from Pittsburgh through West Virginia into the Carolinas head for South Florida when this all went down. The snow stopped around dawn but it was incredibly cold that far south. I heard about it just as I was rolling into Georgia. NASA will never get a pass from me, they were sloppy and reckless with those peoples lives. Unbelievable.
I'll never forget that day. 110 miles from the launch site, 100% visibility. The hype had built hopes up so high, preparing the public for an ecstatic celebration, only to dash them with a whimper like wet fireworks. It's disgusting that they lost a whole crew because of poor judgement. They've lost three crews, that I'm aware of.
@@brianwarkentin8045 Just because something goes against everything you've been told doesn't make it untrue. Judith Resnick is a law professor at Yale University.
@@djtoman6875 that statement is true, but it does not apply to the incredibly hurtful and false claim being made. Debunked over and over. Those 7 astronauts died in that event.
I was a Flight Dispatcher for United Airlines, and there had been talk of NASA eventually passing off the Shuttle operation to United. But obviously, this never happened.
Growing up in Florida and knowing cold spells never last long, just think if they played it safe and waited 2 or 3 days for temperatures to recover significantly. I remember watching that moment while visiting my parents back home.
This wasn't about giving a good show. NASA didn't want another delay, since Congress was about to review their budget request, so they had to look good. Morton Thiokol didn't want another delay, since they were in talks to renew their supply contract with NASA. This was _all about the money._
Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew didn't die for nothing. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the brave. I was born 6 years after the Challenger disaster and am still inspired by Christa. God bless the brave souls of Challenger
@@oleggeraschenko4932 Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew plus big government's NASA (Who was once tasked with making Muslims feel better) proved that Free enterprise, I.e. Space X can outperform a big, fat, Leftist Democrat's politically correct space agency!
Whats even more crazy, experts say that the crew was alive after the explosion. They were in the falling crew ship going at a rate of 200 mph. But they still dont know how they died. But they believe they were alive during the fall. So that itself is terrifying. Rest In Peace 🙏
Like others, I will never forget that moment. Back before the internet, I was a stock broker and watched the "unvarnished" news go across my quotron machine. Never forget that they reported a foot washed ashore. A couple of minutes later it was taken down- but it made a huge impact on me when I thought about the brave astronauts and their families.
This was right up there with the Kennedy assassinations and the Twin Towers for me. I was working at the law office in Jacksonville, FL and we watched the smoke fall to the earth from there. It was heartbreaking. Hearing all this makes it even more heartbreaking. Sometimes it seems that when we force things that don't happen when they're supposed to, we regret it.
The news media hype gives the impression that space travel is 100% safe & sane, when in reality it is fraught with many unknowns. This started out to be a PR gimmick and ended in tragedy.
Yes, we even can colonize Mars with millions of people, and nothing will ever happen ... Some even believe it, because one of our "billionaire friends" told us so. But the ticket prize will be real low.
My former FIL picked up several Apollo missions and on one he managed to ask one of the astronauts, "What is it that you think of when sitting on top of all that payload, ready to launch into space?" The astronaut, (can't remember which one) replied, "That this job goes to the lowest bidder"..
Two things: 1. I started with my current airline on December 4, 2006. I bought an "airport car", a '97 Jetta GLX and drove it around my home city for a month to shake it down. It had about 80,000 miles and performed flawlessly. I drove it to North Carolina to my parents home, then to Memphis where my training took place. The car had spent its life in south Flori-Duh, and the night before I was supposed to start my first day at my new airline, it went down to 17 degrees F. I got in the car in the morning, started it up, drove about 1/4 mile....And it lost all oil pressure. The seal on the oil cooler had failed and it blew all its oil out. I limped it back to the house with no engine damage, and got a ride from my roomate, who happened to be going to recurrent training. Cold temps for systems that are not designed/used to them are NOT a good thing. The VR6 engine was designed in Germany and should have handled this when it was only nine years old, but it didn't. Go figure- 2. January 28, 1986 I was a student at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach. I had an early class, so I got in my car on what felt like a Michigan morning and on the radio they announced that Challenger was about to launch. I beat my '77 Rabbit getting to school, and parked on the edge of the parking lot and got out. From the ERAU campus, you can see launches from Cape Canaveral very well, so I watched the vehicle travel upwards. About a minute into the flight, the smoke trail suddenly got wide. "Odd...." I thought. Then I watched the two solid rocket boosters fly off, and I knew that something was VERY wrong; I beat feet into the University Center [it has since been knocked down] and there was a crowd around the projection TV; "Obviously a major malfunction" I heard the announcer on the news station say. Cold temps for systems that are not designed/used to them are NOT a good thing. The solid rocket boosters should have been able to handle any temperature, but they didn't. Go figure- That awful twisted smoke trail hung around until about 1400 that afternoon; Classes were pretty much cancelled for the day, though the three classes I had actually took place with half the students missing. Everybody was in a deep funk that day, and that night I watched Reagan give his speech. Folks, takeoffs are always optional. Landings are MANDATORY-
you are a smart person and you quote "The solid rocket boosters should have been able to handle any temperature, but they didn't. Go figure-" and fail to acknowledge the facts that SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER ENGINEER protested claiming just opposite, yet you regurgirtate samelie offered in media but not in reports or facts so you are corrupting the present with your switch and baite tactics. it cant be both, it was NASA directors pressure and they were never held accountable but like in CCCP you repeat Party narrative in opposite to facts and events and now even congress reports and investigations. disgusting from a smart person, meaning you ar deliberately malice to keep lie perpetuating because you have MIC stocks? is this America today?
I was employed at Rockwell International at Air Force Flight Test Installation Plant 42 Site One, home to final assembly of all Space Shuttles. Working on the Space Shuttles was so much fun, I couldn’t wait to go to work and worked all overtime offered. Time passes much too quickly.
Hmm, I thought this was going to reveal new information but all it is is a rehash of information that has been in the public domain for decades. Pretty pointless film really.
I was a young Mom and was so excited to be off duty ( Nurse) and at home folding clothes when they showed the families excitement turn to horror as we all watched the explosion of the Challenger.
Search for the video of Yale professor Judith Resnik as she is very politely approached by an amateur journalist, who asks her about her striking resemblance to the Challenger astronaut Judy Resnik -- both of whom share the same birthday. Professor Resnik practically bolts away in panic mode...lol
Not the same person. The astronaut Judith Resnik earned her BS in engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and earned an MS & a PhD at University of Maryland. While your Yale professor earned her Law degree in NY 1975, the astronaut was busy at U Maryland.
@@sharoncarmack5728 Find the video. If she really was a different Judy Resnick, the normal reaction to that journalist would be to laugh and say "Yeah, I noticed all that too -- it's hilarious! But here, let me show you some photos of me in the 1980's, and here's one of me in 1989." But she didn't do anything like that. Instead, she looked very frightened and bolted for the nearest door to walk inside and get away from this very politely inquiring journalist.
@@chrisd5645 You provide no hard evidence, simply your opinion regarding how JR-JD should have reacted. Engineers who were involved that day have spoken in these comments. Enough said.
@@sharoncarmack5728 Not necessary for an engineer to know which, if any, passengers were aboard. And Judy Resnik is not the only Challenger astronaut to turn up alive. At this point nearly all of them have been discovered very much alive and thriving. Almost seems like they've been rewarded. ...Ya think? lol Anyone reading this comment will find non-corporate media sources very helpful in sorting out the truth about this clearly staged event.
Really; this is the first I have heard that they found bodies in a compartment underwater let alone seeing footage, this was never televised either. Something very fishey going on with this part. No pun intended. Indistinguishable from being human? Found in shallow water? They were not that high up when it exploded. So what if they were still sealed in a compartment what would cause them to be Indistinguishable from human remains? Also there was an article in the national enquirer that they found recordings of them talking and saying things on the way down. Which would lead you to believe they were still alive when they hit the water. If that is what really happened. They didn't burn up because of reentry not high enough. And they were not crushed due to deep water. Possibly some crap nasa dreamed up to give the families some closure. This entire part if true needs to be further investigated. Or the maker of this is embellishing. So what did nasa do? Give out boxes of mixed up goo? This is total theater. Space suits and everything in that sealed compartment would still be identifiable as human. When was this sealed compartment found exactly under water? Even if laying underwater for years if still sealed no water would breach the seal. Bones would still be in their space suits. Let's see some proof of extraction? Being that nasa lies like a rug in just about everything they find and try to cover up. Airbrushed out photos are just the tip of the icebergs. 1986 so they say. 35 years later some details par for how nasa operates. "We can't go back to the moon cause we lost all the data" Yeah right.
@@AA-ke5cu "there was an article in the national enquirer that they found recordings of them talking" OK, you could have stopped right there, really, the national enquirer? lmao
Since this is a first reveal, it needs to be corroborated at least a few more times by other reports. and sources. Otherwise (including asserting NASA lies) are all unsubstantiated conjectures.
I'll never forget that moment, it burned into my brain even as it happened. I had just gotten home from work and my mother was watching the TV. I remember standing in the kitchen, drawn by the sight of the launch. it took nano seconds to register in my mind when the shuttle exploded, finding it hard to believe my own eyes. All I remember saying at that moment was "It exploded, it exploded". I never imagined witnessing anything like that, much less expected it, but there it was.
The Public was loosing interest in the space program. So NASA cooked up this teacher in space Idea to enhance public relations and renew interest in the Space Program. They built this flight up for months with news agencies and the school system bringing endless attention to this flight. NASA knew good and well that the chances of an explosion were high on that cold morning. The nasa engineers warned them this explosion would happen, but with all of America watching and their reputation on the line they launched anyway. Yes the crew died a horrible death falling some two minutes Helplessly to their watery grave. This is what you get with publicly funded PR based programs.
Seems like any time people rush to do something, especially for greedy purposes, no matter what the circumstances, something is bound to go wrong. Haste makes waste.
The money we spend on space IS helping humanity here on earth. From the Wall Street Journal: "Removing gravity's influence alters biological systems, enabling experiments that can't be done on the ground. Researchers are sending materials into space to study treatments for cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, blindness and other conditions."
I worked as a preschool teacher in St. Petersburg, Fla. I will never ever forget as long as I live, I was listening to a radio station in my car on my way to work that morning . And this is the part I still remember clear as yesterday, the new station news announcer said, quote , unquote, In spite of the freezing weather , the challenger will be launched today . ! I did not have a TV in my classroom. But the teacher in the next classroom did and their class was watching it live. All of a sudden , I see her ( the teacher.) running through my room to get to the exit door, which was in the kitchen at the front of the building. Her face looked like she saw a ghost. I said what what are you running from? She replied, the space shuttle challenger just blew up with all those people on board. So I ran out of the building with her.. leaving my kids, my preschoolers inside without an adult, we were all standing outside, looking up to the sky! This would’ve been within seconds after it happened. You could actually see the vapor trail mist from all the way across the state in St.Pete. One of those incidents that happen , and you remember every single second of the day.RIP Astronauts. 🌹
Two space shuttle tragedies: 1. The 1st resulted in the first "civilian" astronaut never getting to space; 2. The second resulted in the first "Israeli" astronaut never coming home. 🧐
Christa was never designated the title of astronaut, just a civilian payload specialist who were not qualified astronauts. Her Teacher backup, Barbara Morgan, however, did become an astronaut, qualifying to do so and eventually flew on an ISS building mission. The first civilian was Jake Garn in a flight before Christa. In sad irony, he bumped Jarvis off that flight to the ill-fated Challenger flight. Jarvis' wife was purportedly very angry about this because Garn, a Senator, was rumored to have added little value to the mission.
Rest In Peace to the Challenger crew.
They’re all still alive
@@TOCC50yup. Just watched Level with me documentary.
Amen ❤
Conspiracy theory is that they faked their deaths for clout.
they died on impact
My Father an Aerospace Engineer worked on this Challenger. He was Senior Designer for hydraulics.
Joe Hernandez died from cancer three months later after the launch.
Miss you Dad, thanks for your countless hours of service, dedication to NASA, and for being a pioneer since Apollo 1
This is so crazy to me. So far, you're the second person in this comment section who, either worked on the Challenger or has a close relationship to it. I'll never forget that moment
It was my second day working there on the shuttle program. It was a sad, terrible time
The same Joe Hernandez as the recent film, or different one?
AND PEOPLE ARE SO ESLEEP. THEY WERE NEVER IN THAT SHIP, AND THE SHEEPLE STILL BELIEVE THEY DIED IN THAT SHIP. NOT ONE WAS ON THAT SHIP, AND IT CAN BE PROVEN. THIS WAR IS SPIRITUAL, AND NOT NATURAL. NASA IN HEBREW MEANS TO DECEIVE. OPEN YOUR F$%KING EYES PEOPLE TO TRUTH. .
RIP, sir.
I lived just a mile from the McAuliffe family and had Christa as a teacher for Study Hall and other classes at Concord High School, NH. One of the most heart-wrenching moments of my life was riding my bike past their house that following June, seeing Steve mowing the lawn, and watching their two young children playing in the yard.
According to two idiots replying in the post above yours this never happened. Thank you for sharing this so these freaks can't get away with that conspiracy crap here.
How sad. I live in Central FL and I'll never forget that plume of smoke that lingered in the sky all day.
Aww ♥️🥲
I aways wonder what happened to her student s and where they are today 😢
@@dbcvisuals maybe pay her a visit in Syracuse… she goes by Sharon now.
Nice touch with the kids in the yard bit.
Retired licensed engineer. Struggled with bean counting managers for much of 40+ years.
My father, an engineer, worked for NASA. His opinion was that management tried to turn the shuttle into a bus service.
Yah I have talked to a thiacol analyst. Seems to be a common malady.
@@davidg4288 That was the original plan.
Been there, done that…
I was in our 8th grade math class at that moment, watching it live. When we saw the explosion, we all looked at each other in disbelief. As seconds slowly dragged by we kept hearing the remarks coming from capcom. Our teacher & my classmates kept staring at the TV. When it was over, no one knew what to say. Eventually our teacher said "You have no idea what this just did to the space program. Someday youll all better understand this historic moment"
I've experienced this more than once in my career as an engineer. Worked for a company that had a major contract deliverable to one of our biggest customers. I sat in a meeting with my boss, VP of Engineering, the CTO, CEO and head sales guy. My boss was under pressure to ship the product and was asked if it was ready to go-live. He said yes, he thought it would be OK. I called BS and threw him under the bus saying it didn't work acceptably, not even close. In its present form it was a piece of junk.
Less than a week later, my boss popped his head in my office and told me my "position had been eliminated". After I moved on, I heard from others that they shipped anyway and of course the product fell flat on its face with the customer. But my boss and the execs found a way to blame the engineers for the failure and skated by.
This happened because America is run by greedy people who do care about human lives ...much like the b.s. military who gets people killed and maimed for so called protecing us from Communists
You should have found a way to contact the customers anonymously and let them know it was the managers fault and not the engineers fault.
Had the same issue thing happen to me. “Eliminating a key position” should be trigger to HR and top management something terrible is to happen.
At least you kept your integrity, they had none.
The only way you can deny a boss a product or project that will earn him/her praise, is publicly. You have to send a memo company-wide or at least division-wide to explain why you decided on delaying progress. ESPECIALLY if it's consumer safety. You can outright claim your reason for doing so as a customer safety issue, and also to mention if you're suddenly terminated, something's fishy. Forget NDA's, customer safety trumps those, especially when media are involved. Fight as dirty as you need to. Easy for me to say, but I've been where you are.
Remember vividly watching launch at home. My children were young. It was horrific. My father worked on big guns for the navy. He said straight up, " The O rings malfunctioned." He nailed it.
Yeah. Sure he said that he 😂😂😂
Ironic how the white collar people who will never be in harms way, get to veto the advice and recommendations of the blue collar people who actually designed and built the project.
...and the shame of not letting the actual people FLYING that mission know there was a possible issue.
I believe the reason they didn't tell them because it's ultimately up to the captain if he wants to delay that particular mission or not.
It’s called government bureaucrats in action.
They're all white collar.
Still goes on today
Engineers aren't traditionally considered "blue collar" and they also are not in harms way.
I trust engineers more than I trust managers in every aspect of life.
You are speaking truth
Morton Thiokol's head engineer (looking at losing a $ 3 million contract, if it didn't launch) was surprised it cleared the tower without blowing up! I.e. Nasa politics, hard at work!
@@BWT268 You 2 forgot to think before posting! Lawyers weren't mention in the book I read on the topic! What body orfice did you 2 pull your info & feelings & ridicule out of? Inquering minds want to know!
yeah, engineers never lie and never make mistakes.
But those type managers also gave us Boeing 737 MAX and Titianic !
Never rush into anything important.
Easier said than done.
The Challenger disaster was part of the university course Engineering & Ethics. It didn't happen because it was rushed. It happened because of conflicts of interest. NASA was eager to launch because of the upcoming budgetting talks. Morton Thiokol wanted to launch because they were facing contract renewal.
The engineers had data to back up their claim that it would be too cold. Corporate pressure vs. engineers. The engineers lost. The Challenger was doomed.
Also,. never ride an explosive rocket into the sky, either.
@@grassroot1100 but but we went to tha moon I's tells ya SIX times flawlessly many years earlier, and 1000 times farther than we've ever been!! I's tells ya, I saw'er it on the Talmudvision.
Unless your budget and PR is on the line.
Yet after the Columbia disaster people kept saying NASA should have rushed a rescue shuttle launch.
I am a 75 year old retired structural engineer. I was attached to an Lockheed engineering team in 1986 assigned to the 51 - L Challenger at Kennedy Space Center. On Jan. 28 our launch time that morning was 0915 but Houston scrubbed that liftoff waiting for warmer temperatures for ignition. At 1100 launch was approved and ignition liftoff at 1138. I remember walking around Hanger Y debating with my colleagues tat the weather still freezing and the launch should be scrubbed, Houston thought otherwise. To scrub a launch and have to down load all that liquid and solid propellant cost millions and NASA was running a tight budget. At 1138 we had ignition and launch with icicles hanging off the booster stabilizers. I felt in my gut this was a mistake.
So it was cheaper to blow up a shuttle, rather than delay?
@@laneromel5667
No. You missed the point.
NASA didn't care and still doesn't....I trust engineers; and not directors.
@@laneromel5667....you completely missed the point. Great job.
@@laneromel5667 you already know the answer
I was a senior in highschool and we watched it in AP English. A gasp from everyone and then complete silence thru the classes and hallways. God bless them all. 🕊️🙏❤️
I was in high school as well. I was walking by the library that was showing it. I decided to walk in and watch it. I will never forget those images and the sounds of shock the moment it happenec
I was a freshman, in social studies class. Same thing, then absolute silence. You could’ve heard a pin drop. It was a Catholic, all girls school. We had a prayer service for them later in the afternoon. Not a dry eye in that assembly. I’ll never forget it. 🙏🏻😓
I was a senior in high school as well, in health class. The news came over the loudspeaker. We were all in shock. So tragic. May they all rest in peace.
I was a Freshman.. same thing.. We were in the school chapel (religious school), and it was surreal. I was awful to see live and so unexpected...NASA having the 2nd grade teacher go up, made me feel like one day it may be possible for me. As quick as the snap of a finger. BOOM. I was definitely in Shock
I was also in high school when this disaster happened as I was in the library and one of my classmates (I still remember his name) came up to me and told me that the shuttle blew up. I didn't believe him at first until I walked into the AV room in the library and the whole event was playing on the television. This event was ALMOST like the day 911 happened in that it's one of those times in history you never forget.
We cannot stop launch because "We have a schedule to keep" shameful.
what happens when politics takes priority over common sense
It was just not the schedule. It costs millions to defuel the center fuel tank.
@@TheBeingReal amazing. These things were built without regard for expense, today SpaceX and other private companies are doing it for so much less.
When a teacher makes a mistakes, they wipe the blackbkard clean. When a manager makes a mistake, he resigns and moves on. When an engineer doesnt make a mistake...and people dont listen...people die. NASA was more concerned about their public image and the many delays, now this is a stain on the Shuttle legacy. God speed to the crew of the Challenger and Columbia
I remember watching this live. It was two days after the Superbowl. I had the flu so I didn't go to work. But I was up early watching from the couch. When it happened I jumped up and started yelling that it blew up. That brought my parents and brother up the stairs where we all stared at the TV for an hour or so. I'll never forget that. RIP to the crew. 🙏☮️🇺🇸
Hey your name kicks ass.
I was home on maternity leave and was watching the launch. I couldn't believe my eyes. I felt sorry for the teacher's students having seen that. RIP
McCauliffs son watched his mother lose her life. Her parents. Every viewer.
I was home sick with mono in Canada, and just horrified seeing the McCaulliff family. I didn't understand what was happening until the news anchors explained it. It was horrible.
@@paulgerrard9227 Christa's last words; What's this button do?
Holding my newborn, watching the launch. Nobody that saw it will ever forget.
lol All but one of them are still alive. Watch the documentary " Level with me"... Its clear as day that theyre alive.... I was shocked
I was working at a convenience store near the launch and remember listening to this on the radio and going outside and seeing the aftermath in the sky.
I remember watching it as a kid. It was pretty shocking.
If you have a bad feeling about something, don't ignore it. Trust your instinct. I cancelled a big contract because my instinct kept telling me that there will be huge problems. I saved a lot of money at the end.
Saving money and saving lives are 2 completely different things. Stop trying to make what happened to you more important. You need jesus.
I was a Quality Control Inspector working at Hercules Aerospace in Magna, Utah at the time of the launch. Morton Thiokol, located about 45 miles north of Hercules in Brigham City, Utah, was the company in a Joint Venture with Hercules to build the booster rockets at the time. I was at work when we heard of 'the explosion'! They wheeled a large television into the area so we could watch a recording of the launch. There were NO WORDS for what we had just witnessed! There was even a clueless idiot who said, 'no worries, the two two small trails of smoke are the escape towers'! I turned to him and said, 'the space shuttle doesn't have escape towers'! You should have seen the look of horror on his face when I told him! So, so sad! I still remember that day as if it were yesterday!
I was in the 4th grade, maybe 5th. My teacher didn't know what to do, so she turned off the TV on the cart, paused for a second, probably trying to think of something to say, then ran out of the classroom and to the principals office. I got up and turned the TV back on.
and then everyone stood up and clapped for you?
W moment
I was in our 8th grade math class at that moment, watching it live. When we saw the explosion, we all looked at each other in disbelief. As the minutes dragged on we kept hearing the remarks coming from capcom. Our teacher & my classmates kept staring at the TV. When it was over, no one knew what to say. Eventually our teacher said "You have no idea what this just did to the space program. Someday youll all better understand this historic moment"
@TJfromEarth Almost exactly what happened to my class at 9/11. I don't think you know how the everyone clapped joke works hun.
I'm sure the teacher who ran out had a breakdown. I am sure many still grieve over this incident
GREED IS WHAT KILLED THEM! PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING THAT GOES BAD IS DUE TO GREED!
No the irresponsible people that have been in charge that killed them ! They should be charged for this?
Political greed
Go back to sleep, Karl.
There's proof that several of the astronauts are still alive.
@@carrier7399no there is not. That is just Internet dufus stuff. Show some respect.
My Dad was a mechanical engineer and worked in the space industry from 60-84. He worked in the Firing Room @ KSC overseeing the External Tank (79-84). Unfortunately we lost him to ALS in 1984 but I often think what he would have thought of that day. I have a picture of him and two fellow engineers inside the VAB inspecting the Challenger, it is very special to me as was Columbia. I watched both of these Orbiters launch in the early 80’s from KSC. Space is fragile. God help we’ve learned… RIP 🙏
Seems space isn't as fragile as the spaceships.
What will actually chill you to the bone is the footage from the spectators in that VIP section...they were happy and cheering on the launch and then when it exploded they also cheered thinking it was part of the booster separation sequence or whatever and then it got quiet and then they some what knew something was wrong.
Her parents and the runner up
in 1986- it's important to know that January 28th was the coldest morning that month at Cape Canaveral FL, the low temp was 23F-- an extremely low temp for the East Coast of Central Florida. Historically, the average low temp on that day is 54F, and the average high is 73F. NASA was just crazy foolish to keep pressing to launch, but they did-- and you see what happened.
And at altitude.... Huh... Not rocket science to know how temperatures fall down to minus 40 at altitude. Not to mention the speed that rocket gets there.. Dam effing stupid just thinking of releasing that rocket. No wonder Elon Musk eats them for breakfast to day. Another clever South African.
While never in as critical position as commenting on space craft preparedness, I was a technical "expert" in a couple of fields. I was once asked by my boss (an engineer himself) why I was so vocal if I thought a decision was wrong. I told him I was under the impression that was my job. He replied that if I wanted promotion I'd be better off finding out what they wanted me to say. I asked him if that was how he got where he was. I never did get promoted.......but i don't regret it
That attitude is what drives a lot of people especially once they reach management.
They know more how to "keep" their job, than to do their job.
That jibes with my experience.
Just look at politics nowadays, it's the same thing.
Scammers, all.
@@_munkykok_ Politics hasn't gotten worse, it's always been as bad or even worse for those who are marginalized by the people in charge, the web and 24-7 news coverage force everyone to see things as they have always been.
In 2009 I met an old man at Thanksgiving Dinner. I found out he had been an engineer at NASA in Clear Lake (Houston) where I had lived and we began a conversation about the Challenger. He told me that they didn't trust the tiles that were bound to start flying off shortly after liftoff. He also stated that many of them argued prolifically about this and how dangerous it was right up to the morning of January 27th. He also mentioned several other problems that were each discussed by different groups of people in charge of the launch time.
Space shuttle blows up and the chief engineer says “it was not our day”.
That’s a bit of an understatement….
Nah, he was saying the truth.
Not their day, from their perspective.
From the astronauts' perspectives though, and their families and friends...
That would have been an understatement.
-Contrary to popular belief, the external tank DID NOT EXPLODE. What happened was that it was overheated and due to thermal expansion, the bottom of the tank failed from overpressure and the orbiter was forced away with enough force to break the vehicle up. The sudden pressure wave was so strong that it likely knocked the astronauts out, and the cockpit/lower deck section of the vehicle separated. The whole vehicle then fell and hit the water in pieces.
The impact of the front end of the orbiter at terminal velocity with water is what killed the crewmembers.
There is evidence that some of them were not knocked out. Certain switches meant that some of them were awake for the fall to earth
NASA said later that the break up forces probably did not incapacitate the crew, and that the G forces abated almost immediately. The crew cabin broke away, tumbling and continued to climb for another minute, then started falling toward the ocean. I believe the cabin depressurized and the crew was alive, but unconscious when the cabin hit the water.
Interesting comments
The astronauts were not knocked out. How were air packs enabled if they were knocked out. Some were conscious for the trip down to impact with the ocean.
@erickanter the air packs were called PEAPS (peeps) and were meant for use if the shuttle had to be evacuated on the pad. They were not pressurized oxygen, just regular air, and would not have kept the crew conscious. The cabin had hundreds of inlets and connections to the cargo bay that ripped loose in the cabin separation, so very likely the cabin did depressive and the crew would have passed out and would not have regained consciousness before water impact. Of the 7 peeps, I believe 4 were recovered. The commander's was identified and had not been activated. The pilots had been activated and was some 7/10 depleted. His unit was mounted on the back of his seat frame, which meant that MS Resnik had the job of activating it, which she apparently did. Some switches indicated that Mike Smith tried to restart power units and was going through some response to the emergency, but did not finish the sequence.
I watched this live on TV in 6th grade. Didn't know what happened until the teacher momentarily turned off the TV then right back on saying that this is history and we need to see it. When we realized it, the whole class was unified together in shock and tears.
They shielded our eyes from this failure we went back to our studies, very strict private school.
I think it’s important for students to witness history.
I remember this. I was in elementary school when this happened. Great video. R.I.P Challenger Crew.
I was a QC Inspector at a rubber company and we all agreed that NASA SCREWED THE POOCH on this one !
Yes. Even an engineering student who'd at least got to Mechanics of Materials course would know.
I was about 15 miles north of where many of some of the larger pieces of the Space Shuttle Columbia rained down and the sounds the crash made were very strange and very very loud with a rumbling roar, very powerful repeated sonic booms for several minutes, and bizarre wavering tones like horns and whistling too that took a long time to fade away. My drum kit`s cymbals were crashing and moving from the powerful booms and it was frightening because we had no idea what was happening and my first thought was an asteroid hit somewhere. When I went outside the bright morning sun, a few trees and fog blocked a clear view of the sky but Military helicopters were hovering low over nearby fields in groups proving to me that they expected this and were waiting and watching. Smaller pieces like tiles landed all over the region and one tile landed in a neighbor`s yard.
Oh 100%
The govt has prior knowledge on a lot of national tragedies. its despicable
Very interesting. I can imagine large pieces of material at terminal velocity could make quite a shock wave upon hitting various surfaces. Water from that height would be like concrete since it is virtually incompressible.
@@bustercam199 A commercial fisherman we knew named Jimmy Cawthorn saw large pieces hitting Toledo Bend Lake in deep water...around 80 feet deep. They never found them all. I was on the Louisiana side of the top 1/3rd of the lake. They found body parts not very far to the west & southwest of this location in East Texas. I think there was a plan in place to attempt an emergency landing in the lake and the Shuttle had begun to turn to the southeast possibly attempting to line up with it. Usually they passed directly over our region above DeSoto Parish. We watched them pass directly overhead multiple times coming in for landings in Florida.
@@poindextertunes The sheer number of the black helicopters we saw that morning hovering in place before the roar died down proves to me they knew it was bad and I believe the two pilots knew about the potential for a serious problem to develop and never told the other passengers. They ordered one of the females to go ahead and get her helmet on and McCool`s eyes had a strange seriousness as he looked at the controls and numbers he was seeing.
It occurred over ocean. North is ocean too. The location of the launch facilities was to limit issues with expected failed launches. Rockets are controlled explosions. Downrange is the atlantic ocean.
Surviving the 3 min fall to the ocean must have been horrific
I remember watching on TV. I was so proud that Judy Reznik, who, like me, was from Akron, OH. Such a tragedy, and one that I will never forget.
I used to live in Akron!! Was she laid to rest there?
@@robertmiller5516 Sadly no, she was laid to rest in Arlington
"You can't prove that something will go wrong so I've decided everything will be fine" isn't how reality works. 🤨
Well said....logic is SO underrated.
"Scob fought for any and every edge to survive. He flew that ship without wings all the way down"
"They were alive "
Same as the Columbia disaster, multiple people who knew better jumping up & down and no one listened. Great job. As usual $$ takes precedence and minor stock dip, then biz as usual
You've got a right to be sceptical, but the Challenger disaster was much more of a preventable one than the Columbia was. The design brief of the Space Shuttle called for an temperature operating window of "above freezing" and yet they launched anyway. They had blow-by data of the SRB o-rings to back that up.
The bit of insulating foam that damaged one of the leading edges of the Columbia during its launch? That catastrophical problem was much less obvious directly after it occurred. Only in hindsight was that clear.
Scary part is there was an early indication on one of the other flights. The second flight after challenger blew was Atlantis. It was a military flight so it made it harder for the people onboard to contact NASA. The fact that it was military is also the reason why they were saved. They had multiple foam strikes on the way up. The damage to the tiles was extensive. Something like 179 tiles were damaged with one removed completely. Because it was a military flight there was extra thick panelling welded in to protect certain equipment. That spot happened to be where the tile was. They would have burned through if that panel wasn’t there. Any other flight it would have done. This was how many years before Columbia and they knew about this issue and did nothing about it.
@@Hydrazine1000but they knew about foam strikes before Columbia launch. They knew years before it happened. Saying Columbia wasn’t preventable just isn’t true. Have a look at the video featuring Hoot Gibson in which he talks about the foam strike on his flight. It was the second flight after Challanger
@@cherrytraveller5915 Ok, I'll accept your point that for Columbia there were clear prior indications of problems too.
The Challenger disaster is still is more egregious in my book, since (as I understand it) the NASA-specified operating temperature window for which the SBRs were designed, was not respected.
Even worse (again if my recollection is correct, this was from a university course on ethics in engineering some 20+ years ago) is that the Challenger had two launch windows that fateful day. One in the morning, which they opted to use, and one in the afternoon. The O-rings _might have_ warmed up sufficiently, had they chosen the afternoon. But that's not what they did.
At least 6 NASA engineers advised against the launch, because they knew what the effect cold weather would have on the O-rings. The MAIN REASON the launch took place was because of intense pressure from the White House "To get that bird in the air!!". Reagan was delivering the State of the Union speech that evening and a big part of his speech highlighted this historical shuttle flight with Christa McAuliffe on board. Sadly, this FACT was initially buried by the press but the findings were leaked months later and relegated to the back pages of America's newspapers.
reagan and his cronies fxcked this world so bad
NASA bureaucrats are the reason that flight was pushed. Like most government agencies, they waste and waste good taxpayer money. Public interest in the space program was beginning to wane and they didn't want to lose their teat on the cash cow. They needed a big PR boost and that's when management decided to ignore the warnings and sacrifice that crew.
That's right. For once in his life the so-called Great Communicator had nothing to say. In fact he went into hiding like the coward he was. Sunny optimism and American Exceptionalism took a heavy punch in the gut on that day. And millions of brainwashed little kids got a reality check.
Thank you. I was going to bring this up. This should have been mentioned in this video.
This is a bit of a secondary concern, since it's been widely reported that NASA had an ambitious launch schedule for the shuttle program, and didn't want another delay for such a high-profile and media-focused event.
I was in the Navy watching this on TV when the disaster happened. It was quite eerie to watch. One of my shipmates came up with a tasteless joke that he knew what kind of shampoo Christa McAuliffe used, because they found her head and shoulders.
'Management', 'business majors', 'MBAs', etc., should never have any authority over *engineers* and safety specialists. They live in a world of dollar signs and are disjoint from physical reality and lack knowledge of how things actually work. Safety and monetary matters always have opposite goals.
Hundreds of lives lost due to Boeing's safety failures have exactly the same cause - Management overriding engineers.
So true... 😢
In the case of Boeing, there were engineers who knew the 737Max was a very risky design, but they were overruled. There was (and perhaps still is) a corrupt relationship between Boeing management and the FAA which allowed the 737Max to get a stamp of approval it should never have had. It's what happens when profit-making organisations (corporations) are allowed to get control of government.
The next day they shut down a part of Coco Beach because they thought a piece of Ron McNair washed up. Turned out to be a radiator hose off a 57 Chevy.
Shame on you for omitting what was probably the most chilling detail. At 2 minutes 45 seconds, when the cabin hit the water, most, if not all of the crew members were still alive.
They omitted the explosion itself too. In this world , to not repeat such horrific mistakes everyone must see them raw so it strikes a chord within us.
Never again can be applied to many horrible situations humanity has endured but this was extremely easy to avoid. It’s amazing how much nasa managed to disregard on project challenger.
Rip to the crew and I hope the families have found peace..!
When the truth is gory or gruesome videographers tend to leave it out, dont want to upset the children dont ya know.
@@williegilligan2661 let's not upset the children so we all just forget about the reality of things and pretend it's all rainbows and sunshine... That'll definitely prepare us for the real world.
@@williegilligan2661 I understand, I have kids myself.. i know RUclips demonitizes stuff that’s intense but some times it’s worth it to really educate people. This video, if you didn’t already know that it exploded you may not fully understand the tragedy.. thry elude to “disaster “ but I’m tired of big brother un alive vs dead type “newspeak “ censorship.
But the omission changes the facts of the story and lessens the impact and attitude of the viewer
May the crew rest in peace and may God keep the family's safe
May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.
Never trust management
Hoaxalicious
I was in high school and our history teacher was so excited because he said he got the last TV to watch history in the making. He wheeled it in and we all sat in anticipation to watch the first space shuttle to take a teacher into space. As we watched we saw the explosion, but we were confused because we weren't sure what actually happened. Our teacher looked in horror and ran over and shut the TV off. Then our principal got on the speaker and told us it exploded and we had a moment of silence. I'll never forget that day. It's so awful to think it all could have been prevented. 🙏
Retired Air Force Captain here - I coordinated Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos emergency departure mission in Feb of 1986. We later found out about bomb threats unbeknownst to us, could have been blown out of the sky as I was on that plane.
It may have been a long time ago,, But may all of them rest in peace,,, And they're in a better place...R.I.P
Even as a kid in the area we were surprised they launched in such cold weather. 👀
That was so horrible. And I think a teacher was one of the passengers. I hope their families and loved ones are all right.
Yeah. I remember it was made a big deal of. There was a contest for teachers and she won. That’s one of the reasons why it was shown in schools. I was four, though and didn’t enter elementary school until September of 1986, but I did watch it at home with my mother. I knew about the teacher. Overall I was scared and horrified. Felt sad for all of those people.
The next day they shut down an entire beach thinking a piece of Ron McNair had washed ashore... Turned out to be a radiator hose off a 57 Chevy.
I remember that winter was very cold, I also remember sitting in my fifth grade classroom and watching it blow. Very traumatic as a kid.
I was in 5th grade. I live in Florida.. we watched it live outside on the playground. Like we did all the launches...... But this was different and very sad.😢
We moved to FL in late 1985. My first job was Busch Gardens. Can still remember seeing that gas cloud after the explosion from the back dock of Das Festhaus, the place I was working at the park. It was a gut wrenching, heart breaking day, to say the least.
I remember watching the launch. If you watch when it rolled over onto its back you could see a flash of where the O- ring gave out.
One of my "favorite" aerospace program managers was the guy who told his team "I don't want to hear about problems!"
Normally an identical twin would be present for their siblings funeral.
I remember it like it was yesterday 10th grader… We were so excited having a teacher go to space
I was 21 in January of 1986 and I can attest to how friggin cold it was. I was driving in a blinding snow storm from Pittsburgh through West Virginia into the Carolinas head for South Florida when this all went down. The snow stopped around dawn but it was incredibly cold that far south. I heard about it just as I was rolling into Georgia. NASA will never get a pass from me, they were sloppy and reckless with those peoples lives. Unbelievable.
they were also conscious for four minutes until they hit the ground.
How do you figure that?
Disinformation
I remember this as if it were yesterday. 7th grade social studies. Every student saw this
I remember seeing it happen and how it affected us all. It was unreal. Until it wasn't. Sad day for so many. RIP 🙏 ❤
This and Columbia burning up on re-entry. Space travel is always high risk. I think people started to think it was routine.
I'll never forget that day. 110 miles from the launch site, 100% visibility. The hype had built hopes up so high, preparing the public for an ecstatic celebration, only to dash them with a whimper like wet fireworks. It's disgusting that they lost a whole crew because of poor judgement. They've lost three crews, that I'm aware of.
I was teaching in FL. We went outside and watched it live. Nothing else got done that day. We could see the contrail in the sky for a long time.
What chills me is all of these people are still alive.
Correct! I can't believe so many fools posting here haven't a clue.
Who tells you idiots this nonsense??
@@peternicholas3858 Spread the word. Send them to watch Sean Hibbeler's "Level With Me".
Birds keep such good secrets.
Except for the crew and people who died. Right?
nothing more chilling than them actually being alive still..
Huh??
Blatant, evil lie. Reported.
@@brianwarkentin8045 it is evil.. who do you report NASA fraud to?
@@brianwarkentin8045 Just because something goes against everything you've been told doesn't make it untrue. Judith Resnick is a law professor at Yale University.
@@djtoman6875 that statement is true, but it does not apply to the incredibly hurtful and false claim being made. Debunked over and over. Those 7 astronauts died in that event.
The whole idea of launching some plane shaped thing without an ejection system (like the Apollo rockets did) was a bad idea.
Apparently the Russian version had designed the cockpit to be detachable in an emergency.
I was a Flight Dispatcher for United Airlines, and there had been talk of NASA eventually passing off the Shuttle operation to United. But obviously, this never happened.
Growing up in Florida and knowing cold spells never last long, just think if they played it safe and waited 2 or 3 days for temperatures to recover significantly. I remember watching that moment while visiting my parents back home.
Retired RUclipsr, I've suffered cost cutting bean counters all my life across multiple fields of work.
NASA knew, they were warned but we had to give a good show to the world for American pride
This wasn't about giving a good show. NASA didn't want another delay, since Congress was about to review their budget request, so they had to look good. Morton Thiokol didn't want another delay, since they were in talks to renew their supply contract with NASA.
This was _all about the money._
I was in headstart. Just turned 5. I’ll never forget seeing this in school live.
Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew didn't die for nothing. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the brave. I was born 6 years after the Challenger disaster and am still inspired by Christa. God bless the brave souls of Challenger
@@oleggeraschenko4932 she’s a teacher in New Hampshire
@@oleggeraschenko4932 Christa McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew plus big government's NASA (Who was once tasked with making Muslims feel better) proved that Free enterprise, I.e. Space X can outperform a big, fat, Leftist Democrat's politically correct space agency!
I was in 4th grade. We watched it live also.
NO need to explore the skies, only the faithful will understand ! ! !
Whats even more crazy, experts say that the crew was alive after the explosion. They were in the falling crew ship going at a rate of 200 mph. But they still dont know how they died. But they believe they were alive during the fall. So that itself is terrifying. Rest In Peace 🙏
Of COURSE this was not murder by mismanagement and GREED. NO ONE is accountable.
I remember the day😢 Rest in peace Challenger Crew🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️
They were alive until the cockpit hit the water!
Like others, I will never forget that moment. Back before the internet, I was a stock broker and watched the "unvarnished" news go across my quotron machine. Never forget that they reported a foot washed ashore. A couple of minutes later it was taken down- but it made a huge impact on me when I thought about the brave astronauts and their families.
I was at the Cape that day, i wish i had not been.
This was so sad, especially after all of the warnings.
This was right up there with the Kennedy assassinations and the Twin Towers for me. I was working at the law office in Jacksonville, FL and we watched the smoke fall to the earth from there. It was heartbreaking. Hearing all this makes it even more heartbreaking. Sometimes it seems that when we force things that don't happen when they're supposed to, we regret it.
The news media hype gives the impression that space travel is 100% safe & sane, when in reality it is fraught with many unknowns. This started out to be a PR gimmick and ended in tragedy.
Yes, we even can colonize Mars with millions of people, and nothing will ever happen ...
Some even believe it, because one of our "billionaire friends" told us so. But the ticket prize will be real low.
the media also suppresses technology that would make it easier so
@@poindextertunes What tech should THAT be? Warp-Drive?
My former FIL picked up several Apollo missions and on one he managed to ask one of the astronauts, "What is it that you think of when sitting on top of all that payload, ready to launch into space?" The astronaut, (can't remember which one) replied, "That this job goes to the lowest bidder"..
Two things:
1. I started with my current airline on December 4, 2006. I bought an "airport car", a '97 Jetta GLX and drove it around my home city for a month to shake it down. It had about 80,000 miles and performed flawlessly. I drove it to North Carolina to my parents home, then to Memphis where my training took place. The car had spent its life in south Flori-Duh, and the night before I was supposed to start my first day at my new airline, it went down to 17 degrees F. I got in the car in the morning, started it up, drove about 1/4 mile....And it lost all oil pressure. The seal on the oil cooler had failed and it blew all its oil out. I limped it back to the house with no engine damage, and got a ride from my roomate, who happened to be going to recurrent training.
Cold temps for systems that are not designed/used to them are NOT a good thing. The VR6 engine was designed in Germany and should have handled this when it was only nine years old, but it didn't. Go figure-
2. January 28, 1986 I was a student at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach. I had an early class, so I got in my car on what felt like a Michigan morning and on the radio they announced that Challenger was about to launch. I beat my '77 Rabbit getting to school, and parked on the edge of the parking lot and got out. From the ERAU campus, you can see launches from Cape Canaveral very well, so I watched the vehicle travel upwards. About a minute into the flight, the smoke trail suddenly got wide. "Odd...." I thought. Then I watched the two solid rocket boosters fly off, and I knew that something was VERY wrong; I beat feet into the University Center [it has since been knocked down] and there was a crowd around the projection TV; "Obviously a major malfunction" I heard the announcer on the news station say.
Cold temps for systems that are not designed/used to them are NOT a good thing. The solid rocket boosters should have been able to handle any temperature, but they didn't. Go figure-
That awful twisted smoke trail hung around until about 1400 that afternoon; Classes were pretty much cancelled for the day, though the three classes I had actually took place with half the students missing. Everybody was in a deep funk that day, and that night I watched Reagan give his speech.
Folks, takeoffs are always optional. Landings are MANDATORY-
you are a smart person and you quote "The solid rocket boosters should have been able to handle any temperature, but they didn't. Go figure-" and fail to acknowledge the facts that SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER ENGINEER protested claiming just opposite, yet you regurgirtate samelie offered in media but not in reports or facts so you are corrupting the present with your switch and baite tactics. it cant be both, it was NASA directors pressure and they were never held accountable but like in CCCP you repeat Party narrative in opposite to facts and events and now even congress reports and investigations. disgusting from a smart person, meaning you ar deliberately malice to keep lie perpetuating because you have MIC stocks? is this America today?
I was employed at Rockwell International at Air Force Flight Test Installation Plant 42 Site One, home to final assembly of all Space Shuttles. Working on the Space Shuttles was so much fun, I couldn’t wait to go to work and worked all overtime offered. Time passes much too quickly.
Hmm, I thought this was going to reveal new information but all it is is a rehash of information that has been in the public domain for decades. Pretty pointless film really.
Just a reminder of past heroes
I was a young Mom and was so excited to be off duty ( Nurse) and at home folding clothes when they showed the families excitement turn to horror as we all watched the explosion of the Challenger.
Those who made the decision to go were assholes. My without prejudice opinion. Thought that then and now.
I remember watching that at school because Judy Resnick was from our area. After it happened we ate lunch and were all sent home early.
Search for the video of Yale professor Judith Resnik as she is very politely approached by an amateur journalist, who asks her about her striking resemblance to the Challenger astronaut Judy Resnik -- both of whom share the same birthday. Professor Resnik practically bolts away in panic mode...lol
😆 nutcase
Not the same person. The astronaut Judith Resnik earned her BS in engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and earned an MS & a PhD at University of Maryland. While your Yale professor earned her Law degree in NY 1975, the astronaut was busy at U Maryland.
@@sharoncarmack5728 Find the video. If she really was a different Judy Resnick, the normal reaction to that journalist would be to laugh and say "Yeah, I noticed all that too -- it's hilarious! But here, let me show you some photos of me in the 1980's, and here's one of me in 1989." But she didn't do anything like that. Instead, she looked very frightened and bolted for the nearest door to walk inside and get away from this very politely inquiring journalist.
@@chrisd5645 You provide no hard evidence, simply your opinion regarding how JR-JD should have reacted. Engineers who were involved that day have spoken in these comments. Enough said.
@@sharoncarmack5728 Not necessary for an engineer to know which, if any, passengers were aboard. And Judy Resnik is not the only Challenger astronaut to turn up alive. At this point nearly all of them have been discovered very much alive and thriving. Almost seems like they've been rewarded. ...Ya think? lol
Anyone reading this comment will find non-corporate media sources very helpful in sorting out the truth about this clearly staged event.
The actor Peter Billingsley was there too, and visibly distraught. I know because I watched it in our library at The Middle School!!
Her being the first woman pushed this to the extreme, it killed people
People should have gone to jail over this.
A shocking case of mismanagement! A shocking case of egos over gut! Shocking.
Thank you for finally revealing the condition of the bodies 🙏🏽
Really; this is the first I have heard that they found bodies in a compartment underwater let alone seeing footage, this was never televised either. Something very fishey going on with this part. No pun intended. Indistinguishable from being human? Found in shallow water? They were not that high up when it exploded. So what if they were still sealed in a compartment what would cause them to be Indistinguishable from human remains? Also there was an article in the national enquirer that they found recordings of them talking and saying things on the way down. Which would lead you to believe they were still alive when they hit the water. If that is what really happened. They didn't burn up because of reentry not high enough. And they were not crushed due to deep water. Possibly some crap nasa dreamed up to give the families some closure. This entire part if true needs to be further investigated. Or the maker of this is embellishing. So what did nasa do? Give out boxes of mixed up goo? This is total theater. Space suits and everything in that sealed compartment would still be identifiable as human. When was this sealed compartment found exactly under water? Even if laying underwater for years if still sealed no water would breach the seal. Bones would still be in their space suits. Let's see some proof of extraction? Being that nasa lies like a rug in just about everything they find and try to cover up. Airbrushed out photos are just the tip of the icebergs. 1986 so they say. 35 years later some details par for how nasa operates. "We can't go back to the moon cause we lost all the data" Yeah right.
@@AA-ke5cu the tin foil hat brigade out in force. nothing is ever just what happened lol
@@AA-ke5cuThe impact of the cockpit was crushed (after the space shuttle exploding at 46,000ft) bc of the impact.
@@AA-ke5cu "there was an article in the national enquirer that they found recordings of them talking" OK, you could have stopped right there, really, the national enquirer? lmao
Since this is a first reveal, it needs to be corroborated at least a few more times by other reports. and sources. Otherwise (including asserting NASA lies) are all unsubstantiated conjectures.
I'll never forget that moment, it burned into my brain even as it happened. I had just gotten home from work and my mother was watching the TV. I remember standing in the kitchen, drawn by the sight of the launch. it took nano seconds to register in my mind when the shuttle exploded, finding it hard to believe my own eyes. All I remember saying at that moment was "It exploded, it exploded". I never imagined witnessing anything like that, much less expected it, but there it was.
The Public was loosing interest in the space program. So NASA cooked up this teacher in space Idea to enhance public relations and renew interest in the Space Program. They built this flight up for months with news agencies and the school system bringing endless attention to this flight. NASA knew good and well that the chances of an explosion were high on that cold morning. The nasa engineers warned them this explosion would happen, but with all of America watching and their reputation on the line they launched anyway. Yes the crew died a horrible death falling some two minutes Helplessly to their watery grave. This is what you get with publicly funded PR based programs.
Why are most the Crew still alive today
Seems like any time people rush to do something, especially for greedy purposes, no matter what the circumstances, something is bound to go wrong. Haste makes waste.
Someone in class. Yelled out Need Another Seven Astronauts after it exploded.
I remember watching this on TV at school. The class went quiet. we honestly did know what happened at first. I remember 2 kids crying.
Imagine , if you will, if we spent all the resources and money we do in space to help humanity right here on earth.
Those resources spent fund black budgets. This is the whole reason NASA exists.
The money we spend on space IS helping humanity here on earth. From the Wall Street Journal: "Removing gravity's influence alters biological systems, enabling experiments that can't be done on the ground. Researchers are sending materials into space to study treatments for cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, blindness and other conditions."
@@Giulia-d8f do you hear yourself?
I worked as a preschool teacher in St. Petersburg, Fla. I will never ever forget as long as I live, I was listening to a radio station in my car on my way to work that morning . And this is the part I still remember clear as yesterday, the new station news announcer said, quote , unquote, In spite of the freezing weather , the challenger will be launched today . ! I did not have a TV in my classroom. But the teacher in the next classroom did and their class was watching it live. All of a sudden , I see her ( the teacher.) running through my room to get to the exit door, which was in the kitchen at the front of the building. Her face looked like she saw a ghost. I said what what are you running from? She replied, the space shuttle challenger just blew up with all those people on board. So I ran out of the building with her.. leaving my kids, my preschoolers inside without an adult, we were all standing outside, looking up to the sky! This would’ve been within seconds after it happened. You could actually see the vapor trail mist from all the way across the state in St.Pete. One of those incidents that happen , and you remember every single second of the day.RIP Astronauts. 🌹
"If you can't prove it will fail, then it follows that it will succeed." That's some bona fide C Suite logic right there.
Two space shuttle tragedies:
1. The 1st resulted in the first "civilian" astronaut never getting to space;
2. The second resulted in the first "Israeli" astronaut never coming home. 🧐
I remember when I was a child they sent up chickens, dogs, monkeys. They didn't give a shyte about anything.
Christa was never designated the title of astronaut, just a civilian payload specialist who were not qualified astronauts. Her Teacher backup, Barbara Morgan, however, did become an astronaut, qualifying to do so and eventually flew on an ISS building mission. The first civilian was Jake Garn in a flight before Christa. In sad irony, he bumped Jarvis off that flight to the ill-fated Challenger flight. Jarvis' wife was purportedly very angry about this because Garn, a Senator, was rumored to have added little value to the mission.