Re: Credible Challenger Closure


"Nicholas Fitzpatrick"
this wasn't anything other
than an accident.

Some rather unassociated factors came together on the Challenger launch.

The temp was a full 15 degrees colder than any earlier launch, from 53 degrees, rather balmy, to a cool 38 degrees at launch. Then there is info that some of the joints had been chilled to 8 degrees during the hydrogen loading. There were some stiff o-rings there.

Then there are reports that the steel SRB segments were seriously out of round. So the techs figured, what the hell, we'll make them fit. So it is possible that the assembly of the SRBs was singularly crappy.

Then there was the wind shear. Personally I don't think some cross-wind while climbing is that big of a deal, but the engineers say it made a difference, and it is true that the cross-winds were the highest of any launch.

I was reading some remarks by a witness at the Challenger investigation, maybe it was Dr Lucas, saying that a hole in the SRB would have grown quickly and blown up the main tank..... and I'm thinking well duh that is what happened. Yeesh.



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