Accidents and emergencies on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The tragedy that befell the American shuttle Challenger became one of the largest space disasters of the 20th century. What caused it? And is everything so clear here?

Challenger history

In 1971, the United States began construction of reusable spacecraft - the “Space Shuttle”, which translated means “space shuttle”. They had to shuttle between the Earth and its orbit, delivering various cargo to orbital stations. In addition, the tasks of the shuttles included installation and construction work in orbit and scientific research.
In July 1982, NASA received the Challenger shuttle. Before the fateful day, he had already experienced nine successful launches.
On January 28, 1986, the shuttle performed its next space flight. There were seven people on board: 46-year-old crew commander, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Richard Scobie; 40-year-old co-pilot, Captain Michael John Smith; 39-year-old scientific specialist, Lt. Col. Allison Shoji Onizuka; 36-year-old professional pilot and scientist Judith Arlen Resnick; 35-year-old physicist Ronald Erwin McNair; 41-year-old payload specialist, US Air Force Capt. Gregory Bruce Jarvis; and finally, 37-year-old payload specialist Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, a school teacher by profession, is the only civilian on the team.
Problems arose even before the flight. The launch of the ship was postponed several times due to various organizational, weather and technical problems. Finally it was scheduled for the morning of January 28th. The temperature by this time had dropped to -1°C. Engineers warned NASA management that this could affect the condition of the engine's O-rings and recommended delaying the launch again, but they were not listened to. In addition, the launch pad became icy, but by 10 o’clock in the morning the ice began to melt, and the launch still took place.

The disaster and its consequences

The launch took place at 11:40 a.m. from the Florida coast. Seven seconds later, gray smoke began to billow from the base of the right booster. At the 58th second of flight, the shuttle began to collapse. Liquid hydrogen began to leak from the external tank, and the pressure in it dropped to a critical level. 73 seconds into the flight, the tank completely collapsed, and the Challenger turned into a fireball. The crew members had no chance of salvation: there was no system for evacuating people on board.
The wreckage of the ship fell into the Atlantic Ocean. On March 7, the military discovered a cabin at the bottom of the sea containing the bodies of the dead. When examining the bodies, it turned out that for some time after the disaster, three astronauts - Smith, Onizuka and Resnik - were still alive, since the cabin was torn off from the tail section. They managed to turn on personal air supply devices. But they could no longer survive the strong impact on the water.
By May 1, 55% of the shuttle fragments were recovered from the water. The investigation into the causes of the crash was carried out for several months by the special secret Rogers Commission (named after its chairman, William Pierce Rogers). Its members included scientists, engineers, astronauts and military personnel.
The commission eventually submitted a report to President Reagan detailing the causes and circumstances of the Challenger's demise. It was stated there that the immediate cause of the incident was damage to the o-ring of the right solid fuel accelerator. It did not work when exposed to shock loads during engine starting, as it lost its elasticity due to low temperature.
This led to the displacement of the ship's elements and its deviation from the given trajectory, as a result of which it was destroyed as a result of aerodynamic overloads.
The shuttle program was canceled for three years. The United States suffered huge losses amounting to $8 billion. NASA itself was also reorganized, in particular, a special department was created there, responsible for the safety of space travel.

Is the Challenger crash a fake?

Meanwhile, in addition to the official version about technical problems as the cause of the Challenger disaster, there is another, purely conspiracy theory. It says that the shuttle crash was a fake, staged by NASA. But why was it necessary to destroy the ship? Very simply, conspiracy theorists say, the shuttle program did not bring the expected effect, and in order not to lose face in front of the USSR, the main competitor in the field of space exploration, the United States decided to look for a reason to terminate the program and switch to traditional one-time launches. Although in fact shuttles continued to be built and launched, take, for example, the shuttle Columbia, which crashed in 2003...
What about the dead crew? The same conspiracy sources claim that there was no one on board the shuttle at the time of the explosion! And that the supposedly dead astronauts are actually alive. Thus, Richard Scobie allegedly lives under his own name and heads the company Cows in Trees ltd. Michael Smith teaches at the University of Wisconsin. Onizuka and McNair allegedly pretend to be their own twin brothers (isn't it strange that two crew members suddenly have twin brothers?) And Judith Resnick and Christa McAuliffe teach law - one at Yale, the other at Syracuse University. And only about Gregory Jarvis nothing is known. It is possible that he was the only one killed on board!
But it is clear that all these are just unfounded allegations, and there is no real evidence for this version. Well, how can a supposedly dead person live and work under his own name without it becoming known to the general public? Not to mention the “twins”. It is possible that there really are people in the United States with the same names as the dead astronauts, but this does not mean anything. So the only and main version of the Challenger disaster remains a technical oversight.

In the mid-1980s, the American space program was at the height of its power. After winning the “lunar race,” the United States established its opinion of its unconditional leadership in space.

Another proof of this was the space exploration program using the Space Shuttle. Space shuttles, whose operation began in 1981, made it possible to launch a large amount of payload into orbit, return failed vehicles from orbit, and also make flights with a crew of up to 7 people. No other country in the world had similar technologies at that time.

Unlike the USSR, the US manned program did not experience accidents with human casualties during flights. More than 50 expeditions in a row ended successfully. Both the country's leadership and ordinary people have the opinion that the reliability of American space technology serves as an absolute guarantee of safety.

The idea arose that in the new conditions, anyone who had normal health and had completed a not too difficult and long course of training could fly into space.

"Teacher in Space"

U US President Ronald Reagan The idea arose to send an ordinary school teacher into space. The teacher was supposed to teach several lessons from orbit to increase children's interest in mathematics, physics, geography, as well as science and space exploration.

The “Teacher in Space” competition was announced in the USA, which received 11 thousand applications. There were 118 candidates in the second round, two from each state and dependent areas.

The final results of the competition were announced solemnly in the White House. US Vice President George W. Bush July 19, 1985 announced: the winner was 37-year-old Sharon Christa McAuliffe, second place was taken by the 34-year-old Barbara Morgan. Krista became the main candidate for the flight, Barbara became her backup.

Christa McAuliffe, a mother of two who taught high school history, English and biology, cried tears of joy as the competition results were announced. Her dream came true.

To those close to her, whose pride in Krista alternated with anxiety, she explained: “This is NASA, even if something goes wrong, they will be able to fix everything at the last moment.”

After completing a three-month training program, Christa McAuliffe was included in the crew of the Challenger spacecraft, which was scheduled to go into orbit in January 1986.

Anniversary start

The Challenger flight was supposed to be the anniversary, the 25th launch within the Space Shuttle program. Experts sought to increase the number of expeditions into orbit - after all, fabulous money was allocated for the project with the expectation that over time the shuttles would pay off and begin to make a profit. In order to achieve this, it was planned to reach a rate of 24 flights per year by 1990. That is why the program managers were extremely irritated by the words of specialists about serious shortcomings in the design of the ships. Minor faults had to be eliminated almost before every start, and there were fears that sooner or later everything could end in big trouble.

In addition to Christa McAuliffe, the STS-51L crew included Commander Francis Scobie, first pilot Michael Smith as well as astronauts Allison Onizuka, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair And Gregory Jarvis.

Challenger crew. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

In addition to school lessons from orbit, the mission program included launching satellites into orbit and observing Halley's Comet.

Initially, the launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Center was scheduled for January 22, but was then postponed several times until January 28 became the new date.

That morning there was also a suspicion that the flight would have to be rescheduled - it was very cold in Florida, the temperature dropped below zero, and icing appeared at the launch site. The management decided not to cancel the start, but simply postpone it by a couple of hours. Upon a new inspection, it turned out that the ice had begun to melt, and the go-ahead was given for the start.

"Critical Situation"

The final launch was scheduled for 11:38 local time on January 28, 1986. Relatives and friends of the astronauts, colleagues and students of Christa McAuliffe gathered at the cosmodrome, waiting for the moment when the first teacher would go on a space journey.

At 11:38 a.m., Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral. In the stands where the audience was, rejoicing began. The television camera showed a close-up of the faces of Christa McAuliffe's parents as they saw off their daughter on the flight - they smiled, happy that their girl's dream had become a reality.

The announcer commented on everything that happened at the cosmodrome.

52 seconds after launch, the Challenger began its maximum acceleration. The ship's commander, Francis Scobie, confirmed the start of acceleration. These were the last words heard from the shuttle.

At the 73rd second of the flight, spectators watching the launch saw the Challenger disappear in a white cloud of explosion.

At first the spectators did not understand what had happened. Someone was scared, someone applauded in admiration, believing that everything was happening according to the flight program.

The announcer also seemed to think everything was fine. “1 minute 15 seconds. The ship's speed is 2900 feet per second. Flew a distance of nine nautical miles. The height above the ground is seven nautical miles,” the presenter continues to say.

As it turned out later, the announcer was not looking at the monitor screen, but was reading a previously drawn up launch script. A couple of minutes later, he announced a “critical situation,” and then said the terrible words: “The Challenger exploded.”

No chance of salvation

But by this moment, the audience had already understood everything - debris from what had recently been the most modern spacecraft in the world was falling from the sky into the Atlantic Ocean.

A search and rescue operation was launched, although it was initially called a rescue operation only formally. The ships of the Space Shuttle project, unlike the Soviet Soyuz, were not equipped with emergency rescue systems that could save the lives of astronauts during launch. The crew was doomed.

The operation to recover debris that fell into the Atlantic Ocean continued until May 1, 1986. In total, about 14 tons of debris were recovered. About 55% of the shuttle, 5% of the cabin and 65% of the payload remained on the ocean floor.

The cabin with the astronauts was raised on March 7. It turned out that after the destruction of the ship's structures, the stronger cabin survived and continued to rise upward for several seconds, after which it began to fall from a great height.

It was not possible to establish the exact moment of death of the astronauts, but it is known that at least two - Allison Onizuka and Judith Resnik - survived the very moment of the disaster. Experts discovered that they had turned on personal air supply devices. What happened next depends on whether the cabin was depressurized after the destruction of the shuttle. Since personal devices do not supply air under pressure, the crew soon lost consciousness when depressurized.

If the cabin remained sealed, then the astronauts died when they hit the surface of the water at a speed of 333 km/h.

American "maybe"

America experienced the deepest shock. Flights under the Space Shuttle program were suspended indefinitely. To investigate the crash, US President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission led by Secretary of State William Rogers.

The conclusions of the Rogers Commission were no less a blow to NASA's prestige than the disaster itself. Shortcomings in corporate culture and decision-making procedures were identified as the decisive factor leading to the tragedy.

The destruction of the aircraft was caused by damage to the o-ring of the right solid fuel booster during take-off. Damage to the ring caused a hole to burn out in the side of the accelerator, from which a jet stream flowed towards the external fuel tank. This led to the destruction of the tail mount of the right solid rocket booster and the supporting structures of the external fuel tank. Elements of the complex began to shift relative to each other, which led to its destruction as a result of abnormal aerodynamic loads.

As an investigation showed, NASA had known about defects in the o-rings since 1977, long before the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. But instead of making the necessary changes, NASA treated the problem as an acceptable risk of equipment failure. That is, to put it simply, the department’s specialists, hypnotized by past successes, hoped for an American “maybe.” This approach cost the lives of 7 astronauts, not to mention billions of dollars in financial losses.

21 years later

The Space Shuttle program was resumed after 32 months, but the previous confidence in it was no longer there. There was no longer any talk about payback and profit. The year 1985 remained a record year for the program, when 9 flights were made, and after the death of the Challenger, plans to increase the number of launches to 25-30 per year were no longer remembered.

After the disaster on January 28, 1986, NASA closed the Teacher in Space program and Christa McAuliffe's understudy, Barbara Morgan, returned to teaching school. However, everything she experienced made the teacher dream of finishing the job she started. In 1998, she re-enlisted as an astronaut and in 2002 was assigned as a flight specialist on the shuttle STS-118, which was scheduled to fly to the ISS in November 2003.

However, on February 1, 2003, the second shuttle disaster occurred - the Columbia spacecraft with 7 astronauts on board died during descent from orbit. Barbara Morgan's flight was postponed.

And yet she went into space. On August 8, 2007, 21 years after the loss of Challenger, teacher Barbara Morgan reached orbit on the USS Endeavor. During her flight, she conducted several communications with school classes, including the McCall-Donnelly School, where she taught for a long time. Thus, she completed a project that was not destined to be realized in 1986.

September 11, 2013 upon the return of cosmonauts from the International Space Station (ISS) on the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft. Part of the way the astronauts “fly by touch.” In particular, the crew did not receive parameters about their altitude and only learned from the reports of the rescue service what altitude they were at.

May 27, 2009 The Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On board the ship were Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk. During the flight, temperature control problems arose inside the Soyuz TMA-15 manned spacecraft, which were eliminated using a thermal control system. The incident did not affect the well-being of the crew. On May 29, 2009, the spacecraft docked with the ISS.

August 14, 1997 During the landing of Soyuz TM-25 with the crew of EO-23 (Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin), the soft landing engines fired prematurely, at an altitude of 5.8 km. For this reason, the landing of the spacecraft was hard (landing speed was 7.5 m/s), but the astronauts were not injured.

January 14, 1994 After the undocking of Soyuz TM-17 with the crew of EO-14 (Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Serebrov) during a flyby of the Mir complex, an off-design approach and collision of the ship with the station occurred. The emergency did not have serious consequences.

April 20, 1983 The Soyuz T-8 spacecraft launched from the 1st site of the Baikonur cosmodrome with cosmonauts Vladimir Titov, Gennady Strekalov and Alexander Serebrov on board. For the ship's commander, Titov, this was his first mission into orbit. The crew had to work for several months on board the Salyut-7 station and conduct a lot of research and experiments. However, failure awaited the astronauts. Due to the non-opening of the antenna of the Igla rendezvous and docking system on the ship, the crew was unable to dock the ship to the station, and on April 22, the Soyuz T-8 landed on Earth.

April 10, 1979 The Soyuz-33 spacecraft launched with a crew consisting of Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Bulgarian Georgiy Ivanov. While approaching the station, the ship's main engine failed. The cause of the accident was the gas generator feeding the turbopump unit. It exploded, damaging the backup engine. When the braking impulse was issued (April 12), the reserve engine operated with a lack of thrust, and the impulse was not fully issued. However, the SA landed safely, albeit with a significant flight distance.

October 9, 1977 The Soyuz-25 spacecraft was launched, piloted by cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin. The flight program included docking with the Salyut-6 spacecraft, which was launched into orbit on September 29, 1977. Due to an emergency situation, docking with the station was not possible the first time. The second attempt was also unsuccessful. And after the third attempt, the ship, having touched the station and pushed off by spring pushers, moved away 8-10 m and hovered. The fuel in the main system had completely run out, and it was no longer possible to move further away using the engines. There was a possibility of a collision between the ship and the station, but after several orbits they separated to a safe distance. The fuel for issuing the braking impulse was taken from the reserve tank for the first time. The true reason for the docking failure could not be established. Most likely, there was a defect in the Soyuz-25 docking port (the serviceability of the station's docking port is confirmed by subsequent dockings with the Soyuz spacecraft), but it burned up in the atmosphere.

October 15, 1976 During the flight of the Soyuz-23 spacecraft with a crew consisting of Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky, an attempt was made to dock with the Salyut-5 DOS. Due to the off-design operating mode of the rendezvous control system, the docking was canceled and a decision was made to return the cosmonauts to Earth early. On October 16, the ship's vehicle splashed down on the surface of Lake Tengiz, covered with pieces of ice at an ambient temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. Salt water got onto the contacts of the external connectors, some of which remained energized. This led to the formation of false circuits and the passage of the command to shoot the cover of the reserve parachute system container. The parachute came out of the compartment, got wet and capsized the ship. The exit hatch ended up in the water, and the astronauts almost died. They were rescued by the pilots of a search helicopter, who, in difficult weather conditions, were able to detect the aircraft and, hooking it with a cable, dragged it to the shore.

April 5, 1975 The Soyuz spacecraft (7K-T No. 39) was launched with cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov on board. The flight program provided for docking with the satellite Salyut-4 and work on board for 30 days. However, due to an accident during the activation of the third stage of the rocket, the ship did not enter orbit. The Soyuz made a suborbital flight, landing on a mountain slope in a deserted region of Altai not far from the state border with China and Mongolia. On the morning of April 6, 1975, Lazarev and Makarov were evacuated from the landing site by helicopter.

June 30, 1971 During the return to Earth of the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft, due to the premature opening of the respiratory ventilation valve, the descent module depressurized, which led to a sharp decrease in pressure in the crew module. As a result of the accident, all the astronauts on board died. The crew of the ship, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, consisted of three people: ship commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, research engineer Viktor Patsayev and flight engineer Vladislav Volkov. During the flight, a new record was set at that time; the duration of the crew's stay in space was over 23 days.

April 19, 1971 The first orbital station "Salyut" was launched into orbit, and April 23, 1971 The Soyuz-10 spacecraft launched towards it with the first expedition consisting of Vladimir Shatalov, Alexey Eliseev and Nikolai Rukavishnikov. This expedition was supposed to work at the Salyut orbital station for 22-24 days. The Soyuz-10 TPK docked to the Salyut orbital station, but due to damage to the docking unit of the manned spacecraft during docking, the cosmonauts were unable to board the station and returned to Earth.

April 23, 1967 When returning to Earth, the parachute system of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft failed, resulting in the death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. The flight program planned for the docking of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft with the Soyuz-2 spacecraft and the transition from ship to ship through outer space for Alexei Eliseev and Evgeniy Khrunov, but due to the non-opening of one of the solar panels on Soyuz-1, the launch " Soyuz-2" was cancelled. Soyuz-1 made an early landing, but at the final stage of the ship’s descent to Earth, the parachute system failed and the descent module crashed east of the city of Orsk, Orenburg Region, killing the cosmonaut.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Space is an airless space, the temperature in which is up to -270°C. A person cannot survive in such an aggressive environment, so astronauts always risk their lives, rushing into the unknown blackness of the Universe. In the process of space exploration, many disasters have occurred that have claimed dozens of lives. One of these tragic milestones in the history of astronautics was the death of the Challenger shuttle, which resulted in the death of all crew members.

Briefly about the ship

In the United States, NASA launched the billion-dollar Space Transportation System program. Within its framework, in 1971, the construction of reusable spacecraft began - space shuttles (in English Space Shuttle, which literally translates as “space shuttle”). It was planned that these shuttles would, like shuttles, shuttle between the Earth and orbit, rising to an altitude of up to 500 km. They were supposed to be useful for delivering payloads to orbital stations, performing the necessary installation and construction work, and conducting scientific research.

One of these ships was the Challenger shuttle, the second space shuttle built under this program. In July 1982, it was transferred to NASA for operation.

It got its name in honor of a sea vessel that explored the ocean in the 1870s. In NASA reference books it was listed as OV-99.

Flight history

The space shuttle Challenger first flew into space in April 1983 to launch a broadcast satellite. In June of the same year, it launched again to launch two communications satellites into orbit and conduct pharmaceutical experiments. One of the crew members was Sally Kristen Ride.

August 1983 - the third shuttle launch and the first at night in the history of American astronautics. As a result, the Insat-1B telecommunications satellite was launched into orbit and the Canadian manipulator Canadarm was tested. The flight duration was a little over 6 days.

In February 1984, the space shuttle Challenger took off again, but the mission to put two more satellites into orbit failed.

The fifth launch took place in April 1984. Then, for the first time in world history, a satellite was repaired in space. In October 1984, the sixth launch took place, which was marked by the presence of two female astronauts on board the spacecraft. During this significant flight, the first spacewalk by a woman, Katherine Sullivan, was made in the history of American astronautics.

The seventh flight in April 1985, the eighth in July and the ninth flight in October this year were also successful. They were united by a common goal - conducting research in a space laboratory.

In total, the Challenger has 9 successful flights, it spent 69 days in space, made a full orbit around the blue planet 987 times, its “mileage” is 41.5 million kilometers.

Challenger shuttle disaster

The tragedy occurred off the coast of Florida on January 28, 1986 at 11:39 a.m. At this time, the Challenger shuttle exploded over the Atlantic Ocean. It collapsed in the 73rd second of flight at an altitude of 14 km from the ground. All 7 crew members were killed.

During the launch, the sealing ring of the right solid fuel accelerator was damaged. This caused a hole to burn in the side of the accelerator, from which a jet stream flew towards the external fuel tank. The jet destroyed the tail mount and the supporting structures of the tank itself. Elements of the ship shifted, breaking the symmetry of thrust and air resistance. The spacecraft deviated from the specified flight axis and, as a result, was destroyed under the influence of aerodynamic overloads.

The space shuttle Challenger was not equipped with an evacuation system, so the crew members had no chance of survival. But even if there was such a system, the astronauts would fall into the ocean at a speed of more than 300 km/h. The force of the impact on the water would have been such that no one would have survived anyway.

The Last Crew

During the 10th launch, the Challenger shuttle had seven people on board:

Francis Richard "Dick" Scobee - 46 years old, crew chief. American military pilot with the rank of lieutenant colonel, NASA astronaut. He is survived by his wife, daughter and son. Posthumously awarded the medal "For Space Flight".
Michael John Smith - 40 years old, co-pilot. Test pilot with the rank of captain, NASA astronaut. He is survived by his wife and three children. Posthumously awarded the medal "For Space Flight".
Allison Shoji Onizuka - 39 years old, scientific specialist. American NASA astronaut of Japanese descent, test pilot with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was posthumously awarded the rank of colonel.
Judith Arlen Resnik - 36 years old, scientific specialist. One of NASA's best engineers and astronauts. Professional pilot.
Ronald Ervin McNair - 35 years old, scientific specialist. Physicist, NASA astronaut. He left his wife and two children on Earth. He was posthumously awarded the medal "For Space Flight".
Gregory Bruce Jarvis - 41 years old, payload specialist. An engineer by training. US Air Force Captain. NASA astronaut since 1984. He left his wife and three children at home. He was posthumously awarded the medal "For Space Flight".
Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe - 37 years old, payload specialist. Civil. Posthumously awarded the Space Medal - for astronauts.

There's a little more to be said about the final crew member, Christa McAuliffe. How could a civilian get on the Challenger space shuttle? It seems incredible.

Christa McAuliffe

She was born on 09/02/1948 in Boston, Massachusetts. She worked as a teacher of English, history and biology. She was married and had two children.

Her life flowed as usual and measuredly, until in 1984 the “Teacher in Space” competition was announced in the USA. His idea was to prove that every young and healthy person, after adequate preparation, could successfully fly into space and return to Earth. Among the 11 thousand applications submitted was the application of Krista, a cheerful, cheerful and energetic teacher from Boston.

She won the competition. When Vice President J. presented her with the winner's ticket at a ceremony in the White House, she burst into tears of happiness. It was a one way ticket.

After three months of training, experts declared Krista ready to fly. She was tasked with filming educational scenes and teaching several lessons from aboard the shuttle.

Pre-flight problems

Initially, in the process of preparing the tenth launch of the space shuttle, there were many problems:

Initially, the launch was planned to take place on January 22 from the Kennedy Space Center. But due to organizational troubles, the start was moved first to January 23 and then to January 24.
Due to a storm warning and low temperatures, the flight was postponed another day.
Again, due to a bad weather forecast, the start was postponed to January 27.
During the next inspection of the equipment, several problems were identified, so it was decided to set a new flight date - January 28.

On the morning of January 28, it was frosty outside, the temperature dropped to -1°C. This caused concern among the engineers, and in a private conversation they warned NASA management that extreme conditions could adversely affect the condition of the O-rings and recommended that the launch date be postponed again. But these recommendations were rejected. Another difficulty arose: the launch site became icy. This was an insurmountable obstacle, but, “fortunately,” by 10 a.m. the ice began to melt. The start was scheduled for 11:40 am. It was broadcast on national television. All of America watched the events at the cosmodrome.

Launch and crash of the space shuttle Challenger

At 11:38 a.m. the engines started working. After 2 minutes the device started. Seven seconds later, gray smoke emerged from the base of the right booster, as recorded by ground footage of the flight. The reason for this was the impact of the shock load during engine startup. This has happened before, and the main O-ring, which ensured reliable insulation of the systems, was triggered. But it was cold that morning, so the frozen ring lost its elasticity and could not work as expected. This was the cause of the disaster.

At 58 seconds into the flight, the Challenger shuttle, a photo of which is in the article, began to collapse. After 6 seconds, liquid hydrogen began to flow out of the external tank; after another 2 seconds, the pressure in the external fuel tank dropped to a critical level.

At 73 seconds of flight, the liquid oxygen tank collapsed. Oxygen and hydrogen detonated, and the Challenger disappeared in a huge fireball.

Search for the remains of the ship and the bodies of the dead

After the explosion, debris from the shuttle fell into the Atlantic Ocean. The search for the wreckage of the spacecraft and the bodies of the dead astronauts began with the support of military personnel from the Coast Guard. On March 7, a shuttle cabin with the bodies of crew members was found at the bottom of the ocean. Due to prolonged exposure to seawater, an autopsy was unable to determine the exact cause of death. However, it was possible to find out that after the explosion the astronauts remained alive, since their cabin was simply torn off from the tail section. Michael Smith, Allison Onizuka and Judith Resnick remained conscious and turned on their personal air supply. Most likely, the astronauts could not survive the gigantic force of the impact on the water.

Investigation into the causes of the tragedy

NASA's internal investigation into all the circumstances of the disaster was conducted under the strictest secrecy. To understand all the details of the case and find out the reasons why the Challenger shuttle crashed, US President Reagan created a special Rogers Commission (named after Chairman William Pierce Rogers). Its members included prominent scientists, space and aviation engineers, astronauts and military personnel.

A few months later, the Rogers Commission provided the President with a report in which all the circumstances that resulted in the Challenger shuttle disaster were made public. It was also stated that NASA management did not adequately respond to warnings from specialists regarding problems with the safety of the planned flight.

Consequences of the crash

The crash of the Challenger shuttle dealt a severe blow to the reputation of the United States; the Space Transportation System program was curtailed for 3 years. Due to the largest space shuttle disaster at that time, the United States suffered losses ($8 billion).

Significant changes were made to the design of the shuttles, significantly increasing their safety.

The structure of NASA was also reorganized. An independent agency to oversee flight safety has been created.

Display in culture

In May 2013, the film “Challenger” directed by J. Hawes was released. In the UK it was named best drama film of the year. Its plot is based on real events and concerns the activities of the Rogers Commission.

In the USSR, they preferred to remain silent about the victims of the space race.

The history of space exploration by two superpowers - the USA and the USSR - was written in blood. During this time, dozens of astronauts died.

website recalls the high-profile disasters of the American shuttles and the lesser-known cases of the death of Soviet cosmonauts.

AccidentApolloA-13

After American astronauts successfully landed on the Moon twice using Apollo spacecraft, in 1970 the United States sent Apollo 13 into space, the third expedition whose goal was to land on the lunar surface.

For the first two days, John Swigert, Fred Hayes and commander James Lovell flew to the moon without incident. But on the third day, April 13, 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13. The main engine was damaged. The crew saw a stream of oxygen flowing from the ship into outer space. “Houston, we have a problem,” the astronauts gloomily reported to the command center.

There was no longer any talk of landing on the moon. However, Apollo 13 had to fly around the satellite, performing a gravity maneuver, and only then turn back to Earth.

SEE PHOTO:

To save energy, the astronauts moved from the main cabin to the lunar module and turned off almost all systems, including heating, computers and lights.

On the fourth day after the accident, the level of carbon dioxide in the cabin began to increase. The temperature dropped to +11 degrees, but since the astronauts did not move, it seemed to them that the cabin was barely above freezing. The lunar module's engine had to be turned on four times to adjust its course to Earth, at the risk of losing all energy.

But, despite all the difficulties, on April 17, Apollo 13 entered the earth's atmosphere and successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. The crew was picked up by an American ship and taken to Hawaii. In 1995, Hollywood made a film based on this story.

Rescue of the Apollo 13 crew: astronaut Fred Hayes is picked up by a lifeboat

Soyuz-1 disaster: one victim

In 1967, the USSR lagged behind the United States in the space race. For two years before this, the States had conducted manned space flights one after another, but the Union had not conducted a single one.

Despite the fact that previously unmanned Soyuz launches had ended in accidents, politicians were in a hurry to launch the Soyuz-1 spacecraft into orbit with an astronaut on board at any cost. This astronaut was 40-year-old Vladimir Komarov. He knew the ship he was ordered to fly on well and was aware of the extent of its unpreparedness.

Problems in Soyuz-1 began immediately after entering orbit: one of the ship’s solar panels did not open, then both orientation systems failed. Komarov did the impossible, managing to manually guide the uncontrollable ship onto a landing trajectory.

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But during landing, at an altitude of seven kilometers, both parachutes failed - the technology was violated during their manufacture at the plant. The ship with the astronaut collided with the ground in the Orenburg region at a speed of 60 m/sec.

“After an hour of excavation, we discovered Komarov’s body among the wreckage of the ship. At first it was difficult to make out where the head was, where the arms and legs were. Apparently, Komarov died when the ship hit the ground, and the fire turned his body into a small charred lump measuring 30 by 80 centimeters,” recalled the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Air Force for space, Nikolai Kamanin.

Komarov’s wife was not officially explained the reasons for her husband’s death, only receiving a death certificate with the entry “extensive burns to the body,” and the place of death was listed as the city of Shchelkovo. She gradually learned more details at receptions in the Kremlin, where she was invited as the widow of an astronaut.

Death of the Apollo 1 crew: three victims

The victorious story of the American Apollo lunar mission began with tragedy. In 1967, a month before the planned launch, a fire occurred in Apollo 1.

This happened during ground tests at the Kennedy Space Center. Inside the ship was a crew of three astronauts: Vigil Griss, Edward White and Roger Chaffee. The cabin was filled not with air, but with pure oxygen.

The fire was caused by the engineers' shortcomings and a chain of accidents: some wires were poorly insulated, and one of the mechanics left a wrench inside. This metal key was apparently moved by one of the astronauts, coming into contact with the wiring. A short circuit occurred, oxygen ignited and the interior lining, which contained a lot of flammable materials, caught fire. To top it all off, the astronauts were unable to open the hatch.

People burned in 14 seconds. The last thing heard from the burning ship was 31-year-old Chaffee screaming "We're burning! Get us out of here!"

Soyuz-11 disaster: three victims

In June 1971, Soyuz-11 was launched into space with three cosmonauts on board - Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev. The spacecraft docked with the Salyut orbital station, operated in orbit for 23 days, and then began returning to Earth.

On June 30, the descent vehicle successfully landed in Kazakhstan. But the search group that arrived at the landing site found all three astronauts dead.

The investigation showed that when the descent apparatus was separated from the ship, a ventilation valve opened and the compartment became depressurized. This valve was designed to allow air to flow into the cabin in the event of an unsuccessful landing, but for some reason it opened at an altitude of 150 km.

The astronauts did not have time to close the valve or even plug the small hole with their finger. The cabin was filled with fog, and the control panel was located at some distance from the seats - to reach it, you had to unfasten and get up from the seat. Just 20 seconds after depressurization, people lost consciousness.

The death of the astronauts could have been avoided if they had been wearing spacesuits. But at that time, the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft were designed for one cosmonaut, and three people were literally jammed into them, but it was necessary to send at least three, because that’s what the Americans did. The spacesuits did not fit in such tight spaces.

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After the deaths of Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev, the next Soyuz rockets flew into space with two cosmonauts in spacesuits.

Challenger shuttle disaster:seven victims

Despite the deaths of four Soviet cosmonauts, the Soyuz spacecraft ultimately proved to be less dangerous than the American shuttles. Two of NASA's five space shuttles have crashed.

Challenger completed nine successful flights. On January 28, 1986, dozens of reporters, schoolchildren and other spectators came to Cape Canaveral to watch the tenth shuttle launch. The launch was broadcast on satellite television. The shuttle crew included seven people, including one non-professional astronaut - a former teacher who won the right to fly into space in a competition.

The morning turned out to be cold - 2 degrees below zero, while the space shuttles were recommended to launch at a minimum of +11 degrees.

The accident occurred 73 seconds into the flight: one of the parts of the shuttle came off and pierced the fuel tank. The Challenger exploded in the sky in front of astonished spectators. Many were horrified, but most did not understand what had happened. Some even began to applaud, thinking that this was a planned disconnection of the boosters.

As it turned out, at least three astronauts were still alive after the explosion, as the bow section was torn off from the rest of the ship. Most likely, they immediately lost consciousness, because the cabin was depressurized and no air was supplied to them. In any case, those who survived the explosion were killed when pieces of the shuttle hit the water with great force.

Columbia shuttle disaster: seven victims

In February 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was returning from its 28th flight. There were seven people on board. In addition to the Americans, the astronauts included an Indian citizen and an Israeli.

NASA lost contact with the ship 16 minutes before its intended landing at Cape Canaveral in Florida. At this time the shuttle began to fall apart. The crash occurred at a speed of 20 thousand km/h. All seven astronauts died.

The fall of the debris was filmed on amateur cameras by random eyewitnesses to the tragedy. Almost immediately after the disaster, enterprising people began to pick up fragments of Columbia and sell them at online auctions.

The investigation showed that even during launch, a piece of thermal insulation fell off the Columbia and damaged the ship's skin. This incident, which no one paid attention to, had tragic consequences 16 days later, during the landing.

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Let's remember that last year... In April, the last shuttle Discovery was sent from Cape Canaveral to the Washington Museum.

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