In January 1986, a fireball shot up into the sky above the sun Flo-ridoy. After a series of successful flight exploded space shuttle "Challenger Jer. Seven died aboard the ship astronauts. What happened? And why were ignored warnings about the danger?
For well-coordinated team of scientists and engineers at NASA's Cape Canaveral morning Jan. 28, 1986 began with a pre-flight trouble. In the umpteenth time, they rechecked the space shuttle "Challenger" for another, as expected, routine flight beyond the Earth's atmosphere on the shuttle.
Seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, and - a teacher at primary school, won the right to participate in space flight in the co-jealousies with thousands of colleagues across the United States - received final instructions and exhortations. The many excited spectators and representatives from the media gathered around a massive launch pad-plex and waited exciting spectacle.
And none of them even had no idea that within a few seconds after the start of the spectacular rise of the rocket can occur unbelievable - Chel Challenger "exploded, creating a fiery orange-white ball. All crew members will die and America's space program will be put into a ditch for three years.
In this tragic moment, at an altitude of nine miles in the blue sky over Florida forever evaporated complacent attitude of mankind to space flight. On the whole world sounded the cry of one of the spectators: "Bo is, what happened?"
Prelude
History of the "Challenger" off from the legend, began the night before, when the temperature in Florida dropped to unusually low Mark-ki - minus 27 degrees.
The next morning, the so-called "ice team" NASA has begun to work, checking the space shuttle to the possibility of potentially dangerous icing. Ice, being separated during take-off, can damage the refractory coating "Challenger".
It later emerged that one engineer from the company "Rockwell" in California, watching the actions of "ice team" with a special body-Vision installation, called the Control Commission and urged the sweat-reboval postpone launch vehicle because of the dangerous degree of icing.
Gathered at the Baikonur people warmly welcomed the astronauts, may refer to the "Challenger" - a veteran of shuttle flights. But they knew nothing of the stern warning, overcome a distance of three thousand miles. We did not know this, and astronauts. After taking their jobs, they began a thorough review of all systems using an onboard computer.
It seemed, for the purposes of the flight everything was prepared well. The crew had to launch a communications satellite into space, which cost 100 mil-lion dollars, and spend a few experiments on board the ship. The astronauts were supposed to measure the spectrum of Halley's comet, take samples for radiation in the inner compartments of the spacecraft and explore the impact of the weightlessness on the development of twelve eggs.
For seven minutes, thirty seconds before the launch of the shuttle and its huge engines, which cost one billion dollars were allocated guides steel structures. External fuel tank "Challenger" was equal to a height of ten-house and can hold more than half a million gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen. Store solid propellant two launching missiles weighed more than one million pounds.
Counting System loudly counting starting second, and people in the crowd excitedly repeated them. During the start of the commander of the Challenger Dick Scobee and Pilot Michael Smith were on the flight deck. Behind them sat an electrical engineer Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair, and physicist. Below, on the middle deck, were in-engineer had astronaut Ellison Onizuka, an electrical engineer Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.
Six seconds before the start of the main engine was started. "Four ... three ... two ... one ... Go!" Liftoff of Space Shuttle and the beginning of his program. After leaving the launch pad, a loud applause of space ship flew into the sky.
Among those who watched the grand sweep of "Challenger," remainder lyavshego a brilliant plume of white smoke, were family-HN Christy McAuliffe and eighteen students in third grade, who overcame a half thousand miles from the town of Concord, New Hampshire, to posmot - Ret, as their teacher makes history.
Sixteen seconds after the start of a huge ship gracefully in back, heading beyond the Earth's atmosphere! "Challenger" is a US-indigenous ", - said control commission in exactly fifty-two ce-Kunda after launch." Come with acceleration "- on the radio captain Scho-bi.
Another three seconds later television cameras NASA long-range recorded a shocking picture. Operators saw what they could not consider the audience. In the middle of the ship, between its bottom and the outer fuel tank appeared dim, but clearly visible orange light.
Moment ... and the nightmare began. "Challenger" in flames ... When ugly Y-shaped cloud over the sprawling spaceport, the audience felt the unspeakable horror. Incredibly, in Houston, where the control commission, having a formal leader is not looking at the TV monitor. Instead, his eyes were fixed on a flight program. And he was not talking about what has already happened, elk, and that was to happen with the "Challenger" in accordance with the schedule of flight and written text.
"One minute fifteen seconds. Speed ship 2,900 feet-sec-dy. Flew a distance of nine miles. Height above the ground - seven nautical miles. For millions of viewers affected by what he saw his words sounded like an incantation.
Suddenly, a leading silence and a moment later a small voice said: "As we have just been informed the coordinator of the flight, the spacecraft Challenger Jer exploded. Director of flight confirmed this message." In Washington in the Oval Office, President Ronald Reagan worked. Unexpectedly entered his closest aides. "With the spacecraft ay ba-zoshel serious incident," - said Vice President George Bush. Communications Director Patrick Buchanan was more outspoken, "Sir, exploded Space Shuttle.
Reagan, like all Americans, was appalled. After all, he took a decision as to the first civilian in space was a schoolteacher. Lee Bo-eleven thousand teachers competed for this honor right. Ma-koliff proved most successful. And ... Several hours later, Reagan tried to soothe sore country soulful speech.
Addressing the students of America, the President said: "I know, very heavy-Angelo aware that such bitter things sometimes happen. But This marks a part of the research process and expand the horizons of humanity-va."
National Tragedy
Americans were shocked. Over the past quarter century, scientists and astronauts the U.S. carried out 55 space flights, and their success is returned to Earth-tion was taken as granted. Many began to think that in America almost every young person, train-lished a few months, can fly into space. McAuliffe, cheerful and energetic school teacher, was to become the benchmark of this new era. We can only regret that this wonderful era lasted all the first few seconds.
Suffer the severe three-month training, the teacher was ready to make his fantastic voyage. She was charged with two lessons from space for fifteen minutes. Television was supposed to broadcast these lessons to the whole world. McAuliffe was to explain to children how to operate the spacecraft, and tell about the benefits of space flight.
Tragically, she was unable to use the chance and sag Tee lessons that would include the history of education. It is unlikely that the tragedy of "Challenger" somewhere sounded louder than in Concord. For there, in the classroom, gathered in front of a TV colleagues McAuliffe and students who knew her. Oh, how they expected her speech, as had hoped that it will honor their town all over America!
When the tragic news spread about the death of the Challenger, all the thirty thousand inhabitants of the city plunged into mourning. "People froze in place, - said one resident. - It was a feeling like a family member died.
In Soviet radio to convey condolences to the American people. Moscow announced that the names of two women killed in the U.S. from space ship - McAuliffe and Resnik named two craters on Venus.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II has asked thousands of people gathered in prayer for the American astronauts, saying that the tragedy has caused a deep sense of sadness in his heart. British Prime Minister Mar-Gareth Thatcher remarked sadly that "new knowledge sometimes require a sacrifice of the best people."
Senator John Glenn, first American, who visited the space Op-bat, said: "The first one of us always knew that someday she will come Coy day like today. After all, we work with such enormous speeds, with a vigor that Humanity has never experienced. " Throughout the United States of America, people of different expressive whether his sorrow for the dead.
In Los Angeles was lit the Olympic flame, extinguished after the termination of the Olympic Games. In New York, turned off the light in the highest-nebosk Rehbach. On the coast of Florida's twenty-two thousand people were holding lighted torches ...
Why?
The country was plunged into mourning. A team at Cape Canaveral Coast oh-wound U.S. and NASA have already begun to search for the wreckage of "Challenger". They had to wait for nearly an hour after the explosion, because the fragments-ing all fell and fell. Search area covers about six thousand square miles Atlantiches-one ocean.
Despite the tremendous force of the explosion, the search party found a surprisingly large debris scattered on the ocean floor, including the section of the fuselage of the Challenger. As for the astronauts, after intensive study of Experts NASA admitted that the team did not die immediately, as it was considered first-initial. It is possible that they survived the explosion and lived until on-ka cabin not hit the surface of the ocean.
NASA experts had to solve very daunting task: where failure has occurred?
By this time revealed three areas of work. Firstly, the decay of mummers scientists had already been a film shot by NASA's 80 television cameras and 90 cameras, which belonged to the media. In the second-Second, there were billions of recorded video signals, and the granting exchanged doomed astronauts from Mission Control Centre. And, thirdly, to the point were collected debris from the Challenger.
Already there was the assumption that the ice formed on the launch pad before the launch, damaged the space shuttle, which feared an engineer from the "Rockwell". Also expressed suspicion that a few days ago, boom crane accident damaged the external fuel tank insulation. But NASA experts claimed that the crane caught myself not tank, but only the starter equipment.
Soon after release and the assumptions have focused on a possible accident of the fuel tank or on one or both of the rockets. Experts speci-Neely, that each such unit complex could cause an explosion. Could lead to an explosion and leakage of fuel through the bursting of the seam of the main fuel tank.
A special commission began to examine bias in private meetings of senior officials and engineers from NASA, Morton tayokol - provider of carrier rockets with solid fuel, which, rye, as expected, led to the tragedy.
What it turned out, threw the commission in shock. It appeared to fly shuttles Space Center Kennedy Robert Sikes, director of the Production of "Challenger" Gene Thomas was not even heard that engineers Morton tayokol "objected to launch the shuttle from the cold weather at Cape Canaveral.
Most experts gradually came to the conclusion that the accident pro-od because of the fire ring of synthetic rubber sealing segments of the launcher. These rings were intended to exhaust the rocket did not go through the cracks in the joints.
On the eve of launching the company's engineers Morton tayokol "and an officer faces of NASA discussed the potential problems of flight. Engineers a unified-nodushno asked to delay the launch of "Challenger". They feared that the ring from the cold lose elasticity and density in the grooves around the rockets will be disturbed. True, it was about the temperature below 50 degrees below zero, and the night temperature dropped to just 30 degrees. But, obviously, enough of that.
The debate threatened to drag on, and then the first vice-president of Morton tayokol "Gerald Mason said:" We have to take the managerial decision. " He and three other vice-president supported the launch.
But the head of the engineering corps of the company Allan McDonald refused under-write the official permission to run the ship. "I argued with them until they were hoarse - he told reporters. - But could not convince them."
It seemed that NASA leadership was not interested in the assumptions and predoste rarefaction, it required "evidence" that the launch could be dangerous. On the other hand, presumably, it asks engineers: "Lord, when did you want us to run the ship, in April, or what?" In the end, NASA insisted.
Incredibly, the day of launch "Challenger" NASA has missed another chance to avert the tragedy. A huge tower that supports the aircraft on the pad, covered with ice. On the Space Agency, concerned with the fact that the ice can damage the refractory coating-rytie, thrice sent "ice team" to check the site. But informa-tion about abnormal "cold spots" on the right rocket somehow been overlooked. This meant that the rubber rings were much greater cooling than during all previous flights.
Findings
Holds a public hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Science, technology and space, Senator Ernest Holding said about the crash: "Today, ka-opinion that is that it could have been avoided." Later he put forward an accusation against NASA, which, obviously, made a political decision, and hastened to the Osu-tled start, despite strong objections.
Subsequently, NASA managers acknowledged that somewhere in 1980 their concerns about the state of sealing rings between the sections of rocket-carriers lei. For example, during the first twelve flights of the shuttle ring four times partially burn. The space agency began to use a new type of putty to protect the joints. As a result, the ring began to disintegrate even faster. Despite all this, leading engineers and managers of NASA did not consider flaws seals serious enough to suspend or postpone the flight of the space shuttle.
Safety Commission concluded that the tragedy was the Call-Wan "pressure drop in the feed right combination of rocket-engine-la", but also said "had made a serious mistake when making a decision."
The Commission made recommendations which, in its opinion, should not prevent the recurrence of the tragedy. Its multi-page report to President Ray Ghana urged the completely redesigned, but not modify the connection on the shuttle engines and check all the critical nodes Korab la.
It was noted that NASA would very quickly bring "Challenger" in orbit due to a series of delays that have occurred earlier. After initially scheduled for launch on January 25. But over the emergency landing of Lozoya in Senegal raging sandstorm. Then, at Cape Canaveral was the rain that could damage the refractory insulation tile ship. On Monday refused to lock the outer hatch. Then the wind rushing from the velocity of 35 miles per hour, pushed the start to the morning.
But the commission has not assigned responsibility for the tragedy at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She noted that the number of flights offered by NASA, Washington never to the respective manner not funded. Therefore, the organization's budget was only us-tense, that was not enough money even for parts.
"The future is not free from losses ..."
Four days later, on Friday, America said goodbye to a courageous seven. Under a gray sky hanging over the space center, located in Oak neighborhoods of Houston, where astronauts trained, met relatives ki dead, congressmen, and about six thousand members of NASA. A speech by President Reagan.
"The sacrifices that have brought people you loved, deeply stir-shaft the American people. Coping with pain, our hearts were opened to the bitter truth: the future is not free from losses ... Dick, Mike, Judy, El, Ron, Greg and Christa. Your family and your country mourn your death. We say goodbye to you, but never forget you. "
The American people, of course, will not forget their heroes. The space agency, once served a source of national pride, to subject elk lengthy and thorough audit.
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