Today 25 years ago the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded high in the sky shortly after liftoff, taking the lives of seven astronauts on board, including a school teacher. In a congressional hearing on the causes of the tragic accident, the eminent physicist Richard Feynman would later elegantly demonstrate to the public that the O-ring seals in the booster rockets lost elasticity at freezing temperatures. He dropped a piece of the material into an ice water cup in front of him, letting it soak for a while. He then took it out and pinched it. The result was lasting indentations, affirming that the material changed its properties dramatically with dropping temperatures.
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| Space Shuttle Decoy at Huntsville, AL, showing the white booster rocket and the brown fuel tank. |
Addendum
- Political considerations may have played a pivotal role in the tragic decision of Challenger's launch. Listen to May-Lily Lee's interview with former NASA employee Richard C. Cook with the title "Virginia Conversations: The Whistleblower" aired by Virginia Public Radio Nov. 11, 2013. Richard wrote a book about his experience with the title "Challenger Revealed: An Insider's Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age
" (11/19/2013).
Dr. Melzer,
ReplyDeleteRe. Murphy's Law:
in organic chemistry a professor advised that when 2 substrates are combined "anything that can happen, will happen, at various frequencies".
as u pointed out, NASA was warned.
they chose to launch "outside the envelope" without additional experimentation because of pressure from bureaucrats.
hopefully scientists learned that even if your job is at risk, you got to say "no" when it's right and let the chips fall.
worthwhile post to remind us to stand up to paper pushing bullies in industry or we are just one more maggot in a big pile of manure.
steve