Wednesday, January 29, 1986
Page 2
Daily Nebraskan
News Dgsi
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NASA organizes investigation; fuel tank may be cause
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A catastrophic
explosion blew apart the space shuttle Chal
lenger 75 seconds after liftoff Tuesday, sending
schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe and six NASA
astronauts to a fiery death in the sky 8 miles
out from Kennedy Space Center.
"We mourn seven heroes," said President
Reagan.
The accident defied quick explanation,
though a slow-motion replay seemed to show
an initial explosion in one of two peel-away
rocket boosters igniting the sluttle's huge
external fuel tank. The tank burst into a fire
ball that destroyed Challenger high above the
Atlantic while crew families and NASA offi
cials watched in despair from the Cape.
Other observers noted that the boosters
continued to fly crazily through the sky after
the explosion, apparently under full power,
indicating that the fatal explosion might have
originated in the giant tank itself.
"We will not speculate as to the specific
cause of the explosion based on that footage,"
said Jesse Moore, NASA's top shuttle adminis
trator. National Aeronautics and Space Admin
stration officials are organizing an investigat
ing board and Moore said it will take a
"careful review" of all data "before we can
reach any conclusions."
Never before in 56 manned space missions
had Americans died in flight. John Glenn, the
former astronaut, recalled that three astro
nauts died in a launch-pad training accident 19
years ago and said the history of pioneers is
often one "of triumph and tragedy."
The explosion followed an apparently flaw
less launch, delayed two hours as officials ana
lyzed the danger from icicles that formed in
the frosty Florida morning along the shuttle's
new launch pad.
"There were no signs of abnormalities on
the screens" as flight controllers monitored
Challenger's liftoff and ascent, a source said.
The source, at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston, said the blast occurred "unexpect
edly and with absolutely no warning."
"We have a report from the flight dynamics
officer that the vehicle has exploded. Flight
director confirms that," said NASA's Steve
Nesbitt.
Mission control reported that there had
been no indication of any problem with the
three shuttle engines, its twin solid boosters
or any other system and that the shuttle just
suddenly blew apart 10 miles high and 8 miles
downrange of Cape Canaveral. Ninety minutes
after the accident, controllers were still at
their consoles solemnly examining flight data.
Reagan, in an Oval Office address after he
postponed his State of the Union message
because of the tragedy, reaffirmed his com
mitment to the shuttle program and said, "The
future doesn't belong to the fainthearted, it
belongs to the brave."
ducted search-and-rescue efforts. Even before
Moore's statement, it seemed impossiDie
anyone could have survived such a cataclysm.
The crew included McAuliffe and six NASA
astronauts: commander Francis R. Scobee, 46;
pilot Michael J. Smith, 40; Judith Resnik, 36;
Ronald E. McNair, 35; Ellison S. Onizuka, 39;
and Gregory B. Jams, 41.
"I regret that I have to report that based on
very preliminary searches of the ocean where
the Challenger impacted this morning, these
searches have not revealed any evidence that
Final Words . . .
Words from space shuttle Challenger were all routine through the 60
seconds of flight. There was silence after the spacecraft erupted into a
fireball.
Here is a transcript of those seconds:
Mission Control Commentator: 10-9-8-7-6, we have main engine
start, 4-3-2-1, and liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission. And it
has cleared the tower.
Pilot Mike Smith: Roll program.
Mission Control: Roger, roll, Challenger.
Mission Control: Roll program confirmed. Challenger now heading
down range. The engines are throttling down now at 94 percent. Normal
throttle for most of the flight is 104 percent. We'll throttle down to 65
percent shortly. Engines at 65 percent. Three engines running normally.
Three good fuel cells. Three good APUs (auxiliary power units). Velocity
22,057 feet per second (1400 miles per hour), altitude 4.3 nautical (4.9
statute miles), downrange distance 3 nautical miles (3.4 statute miles).
Engines throttling up, three engines now 104 percent.
Mission Control: Challenger, go at throttle up.
Smith: Roger, go at throttle up. (Fireball occurs).
Mission Control: We're at a minute 15 seconds, velocity 29,000 feet
per second (1977 mph) altitude 9 nautical miles (10.35 statute miles),
range distance 7 nautical miles (8.05 statue miles).
There was a long silence.
Mission Control: Flight controllers are looking very carefully at
the situation. Obviously a major malfunction. We have no downlink
(communications).
Weather:
Partly sunny today with light and variable
winds, becoming southerly and increasing
toward evening. High 39. Tonight, partly cloudy
and mild with a low of 22. High in the low 40s
Thursday.
"We will continue our quest in space," he
said. "There will be more shuttle flights and
more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers,
more civilians, more teachers in space."
He added: "Nothing stops here."
NASA delayed its announcement that there
appeared to be no survivors until it had con-
the crew of Challenger survived,' Moore, NASA
associate administrator, told a midafternoon
news conference.
The president watched video replays in "s2
and sent Vice President George Bush here to
convey his sympathies to the families of the
crew.
New Hampshire schoolchildren, drawn tn
this launch because of the presence of McAu
liffe, the first "common citizen" chosen to
make a space flight, screamed and fought back
tears. Americans everywhere watched in disbe
lief as television networks replayed the shuttle
explosion.
Addressing schoolchildren who watched this
flight more closely than others because a
teacher was aboard and many special projects
were planned for them, Reagan said:
"I know it's hard to understand, but some
times painful things like this happen. It's all
part of the process of exploration and discov
ery. It's all part of taking a chance and
expanding man's horizons." Earlier he had
said, "You have to be out there on the frontier
taking risks. Make it plain to them that life
must go on."
Lost along with the $1.2 billion spacecraft
was a $10-million payload that was to have
studied Halley's comet.
Challenger fell in pieces about 18 miles
from the launch pad. Debris was so heavy that
for several minutes NASA directed rescue craft
to stay out of the area
Launch, scheduled for 8:38 a.m. CST, had
been delayed two hours while officials ana
lyzed the possibility that foot-long launch-pad
icicles might cause problems. But after liftoff,
at 10:38 a.m. CST, the NASA commentator,
Nesbitt, reported systems were normal.
NASA cameras were trained on the space
ship. While slow-speed replays did not pin
point the source of the explosion, from one
angle it seemed it might have come at one of .
the boosters, the two rockets that provide the
ship its initial boost to space before peeling
away to earth.
Among those who witnessed the explosion
were McAuliffe's attorney-husband Steve and
their two children, Scott, 9, and Caroline, 6.
Also on hand were members of Scott's third
grade class from Concord, N.H., displaying a
large "Go Christa" banner.
Several cried after the explosion, friends
hugged one another and parents quickly
cleared children off the viewing bleachers and
aboard buses.
McAuliffe, 37, had been selected from 11,146
teacher applicants to be the first to fly in the
National Aeronautics and Space Adminstra
tion's citizen-in-space program.
All 1,200 students at McAuliffe's Concord
High School were cheering the televised
launch when a teacher yelled for them to be
silent because something appeared to be
wrong.
Nebra&an
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