Crux of a Disaster: Challenger
The cycle of life in the space world appears to be reborn after disasters. The space shuttle Challenger is no exception. After the Apollo 1 fire, NASA regrouped, improved the Apollo spacecraft, and landed on the moon. Ironically, the pause created by the fire is often cited as one of the most significant reasons for the success of the moon landings. Looking back on Challenger, even with the conditions being wholly different from Apollo 1, the same can be said again. In 1986, America’s space program was in trouble, and most involved either ignored it or were too complacent to notice. It appears that if Challenger hadn’t ceased on Tuesday, January 28th, then another shuttle on some other mission would have. In the mid-1980’s NASA was on a collision course with disaster.
Reports of the time seem to be prophetic of the coming tragedy. In early January 1986, shuttle Discovery was delayed 7 times: a record. Newspapers and public opinion agreed that the delays were tiresome, but also necessary. Even Christa McAuliffe, who experienced delays aboard Challenger before it lifted off, stated that she was growing tired of the them, but that she was also reassured by them. Everyone knew that everything on the shuttle system had to work perfectly. A cancellation or delay of a launch meant that safety was first. The sad truth was, however, that it wasn’t. The program, which had had 24 successful shuttle missions before Challenger, had become complacent. Add to this a waning budget that caused routine cuts in safety control. In 1986 quality control was down 70% from when the shuttle program began flights in 1981. Forced to perform or face criticism, NASA began to do almost anything to appease contractors and companies who wanted to use the shuttle cargo bay for satellite delivery into space.
In order to avoid criticism from Congress and the public, NASA began to push for rapid fire launches with little delay.1986 was going to be red letter year for the shuttle program, but only if there were no delays.
After previous delays, Challenger had to launch on the 28th, and return by early February, if shuttle Columbia was going to be ready for liftoff in March. Columbia had to launch in March so that its payload, the ASTRO spacecraft, could rendezvous with Haley’s comet, and thus beat a Soviet probe to the comet. Needless to say, there was significant pressure to launch Challenger as soon as possible.
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