Challenger Disaster Research Paper

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The Challenger space shuttle disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, causing the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft exploded off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:38am. This disaster shocked the nation because we thought that NASA was past the days of failed launches and deaths of American astronauts. President Ronald Reagan issued an investigation on the Challenger failure, known as the Rogers Commission. This report took several months to publish and its finding helped NASA reshape its culture and the way it does business. The U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology also conducted hearing and produced a report finding similar and different…show more content…
With the Rogers Commission we were able to improve the safety of space flight, but we must never forget those who died in the Challenger explosion. The Challenger disaster took the lives of seven individuals; these people were Francis R. Scobee the commander, Michael J. Smith the pilot, Ronald McNair a mission specialist, Ellison Onizuka a mission specialist, Judith Resnik mission specialist, Greg Jarvis a payload specialist, and Christa McAuliffe a payload specialist. Christa McAuliffe was a teacher from New Hampshire and was the first teacher in the Teacher in Space program to get a chance to fly in a space shuttle. Challenger’s mission was to fly Christa McAuliffe into space and teach children on earth from space. This drew huge publicity to the program as over 17 percent of Americans were watching the launch and 85 percent of Americans found out about the Challenger explosion within an hour of its failure. At the very beginning of the launch there was some…show more content…
NASA was given a 30 day period to review these recommendations and find a way to implement them by President Ronald Reagan. They were to report back to President Reagan and show their plan for approval. These recommendations were design, shuttle management structure, criticality review and hazard analysis, safety organization, improved communications, landing safety, launch abort and crew escape, flight rate, and maintenance safeguards. With all these new restrictions placed on to NASA, the commission was making it a safer environment for astronauts because they are putting their lives on the
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