In the TV movie Challenger which I just looked at again, during the break in the pre-launch meeting with Thiokol, Cecil Houston got a call from the Coast Guard saying the booster recovery ships were in a "full gale" and headed back to port. Any truth to this?
Hypothetical question here and I apologize if this has been answered but I've searched and cannot find an answer to this. I know that the SRBs continued to fire until they were destroyed by the SRO. It only just occurred to me, what if the burn through had occurred in a "safer" location (ie. away from the ET and shuttle), could the shuttle have made it to SRB SEP? I know that the shuttle engine gimbals and SRB gimbals had already started reacting to the SRB thrust asymmetry, but at what point would they have not been able to keep control of the stack?
How did the flames even reach the damaged joint? Isn't there a wall of unburned propellant between the hot combustion gasses and the joint, right up until burnout?
I worked STS-51L payload processing and was an eyewitness to the 1986 disaster. The accident literally changed my life, steering me toward where I am today. This photo from ISS, and the story behind it, just floored me when I read it today. My wife, a middle school teacher, said "wow" when she read the story. (She usually doesn't say "wow" when I show her something space-related!)http://www.collectspace.com//news/news-020617a-challenger-soccer-ball-space-station.html#NASARemembers indeed. - Ed Kyle
Where was everyone when it happened? I was just a little kid, but I remember the newsflash as it interupted a kids show I was watching.