The US space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 28, 1986, with the loss of all seven members of the crew.
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A week of mourning was subsequently announced by President Ronald Reagan and further space shuttle flights were postponed indefinitely pending the outcome of investigations into the causes of the disaster. Mr Reagan also postponed until Feb. 4 his annual State of the Union address, which was due to have been delivered to Congress on the evening of Jan. 28.
The explosion occurred at 74 seconds after lift-off, which was at 11.38 am local time, at an altitude of about 10 miles. Following the explosion the solid-fuel rocket boosters, which had veered off uncontrollably, were disintegrated by remote control.
No US astronauts had previously died while on a mission, although three were killed by a launch-pad fire in January 1967. The crew of Challenger was as follows: Mr Francis R. Scobee, 46, the mission commander; Navy Commander Michael J. Smith, 40, the pilot; Mr Ronald E. McNair, 36; Air Force Lt. -Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, 39; Ms Judith A. Resnik, 36, electrical engineer; Mr Gregory Jarvis, 41, a Hughes Aircraft Co. engineer; and Mrs Sharon Christa McAuliffe, 37, a schoolteacher.
The mission, which was the 25th by a US space shuttle and the 10th by Challenger, had been intended to conduct various scientific experiments and to launch a communications satellite and a craft to study Halley's comet.
Since the 11th shuttle mission (carried out by Challenger in April 1984--, Challenger itself had flown successfully on four further occasions, most recently on Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 1985. Discovery had made six flights (including its maiden flight on Aug. 30-Sept. 5, 1984), and Atlantis had made two flights (including its maiden flight on Oct. 3-7, 1985). Two of the missions had carried secret military payloads for the Department of Defense.
The most recent flight had been made on Jan. 10-18 by Columbia (which made the first shuttle flight in April 1981-- -but had not flown since 1983). Columbia's launch had been postponed a record seven times, from an original date of Dec. 18, and further delays in landing the shuttle had forced the postponement of the launching of Challenger from Jan. 22 to Jan. 25 (further postponements to Jan. 28 being caused by weather and technical problems). The failure to launch Columbia in 1985 had increased the number of missions due in 1986 from 15 to 16, whereas only nine launches had been achieved in 1985.
Mrs McAuliffe, a high school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, had won a contest to become the first 'ordinary citizen' in space, and her participation had created exceptional public interest in the launch. She was to have given televised science lessons from space. Senator John D. Glenn (Dem., Ohio), who in 1962 was the first US astronaut in space, was among those who had criticized the use of civilians at this stage of shuttle development, arguing that all available berths should be reserved for those engaged in scientific work. It had been argued by some that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had increasingly chosen crew members for public relations reasons or to win favourable consideration from Congress at a time of increasing budgetary pressures; members of recent missions had included Senator Jake Garn (Rep., Utah) and Representative Bill Nelson (Dem., Fla. ), who chaired congressional subcommittees responsible for NASA funding. Senator Garn had on April 18, 1985, cast the first proxy vote from space from on board Discovery.
In remarks addressed to the 'schoolchildren of America' in a nationally televised address on the evening of the disaster, Mr Reagan said: 'I know it's hard to understand that sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future and we'll continue to follow them. '
Mr Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, on Jan. 29 sent a message to President Reagan stating that 'we partake of your grief at the tragic death of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger', and Soviet media coverage of the disaster was predominantly sombre. On Jan. 31, however, the Soviet news agency Tass suggested that the shuttle had been carrying secret explosives as part of the programme for the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI).
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
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