Space Shuttle Challenger blasts off from Cape Canaveral to start the STS-51-L mission. 73 seconds later, Challenger's boosters explode and send it into the ocean in pieces. All seven astronauts on board are killed.
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Columbia's Last Flight
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Columbia's Last Flight
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TVTranscript
00:00When Space Shuttle Challenger launches on a January morning in 1986, a key engineer
00:12is sure a catastrophe is coming.
00:14We've got to stop the flight.
00:16We cannot let Challenger launch, period.
00:19This is insane.
00:22He thinks the ship is going to explode.
00:24And liftoff.
00:25Liftoff of the 25th Space Shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower.
00:34Seventy-three seconds later, disaster strikes.
00:40Seven astronauts die in front of their families and millions of television viewers.
00:46What really happened during that fateful flight?
00:49Was tragedy inevitable, or could the shuttle and its crew have made it into space?
00:55Could they have made it?
00:57That question haunts me.
01:03Disasters don't just happen.
01:04They're a chain of critical events.
01:06Unravel the clues and count down those final seconds from disaster.
01:24North America, Florida.
01:27January 28th, 1986.
01:318.08am.
01:35At Kennedy Space Center, final preparations are underway for the most anticipated space
01:42mission since the glory days of the Apollo era.
01:48Thousands have descended to the Cape to watch Space Shuttle Challenger make history by sending
01:55the first citizen into space.
02:01School teacher Krista McAuliffe.
02:05Krista never thought of herself as an astronaut.
02:08She felt that she was a teacher now.
02:12She felt this way that she could show everyone how important teachers were, and get children
02:20excited about education and wanting to do the very best that they could.
02:24She said it was the best field trip ever.
02:2937-year-old Krista, mother of Scott and Caroline, has spent five months training for space.
02:38In the process, she has become a national celebrity.
02:41She knows there's a lot riding on this mission.
02:44The 25th shuttle launch will be far more than just another trip into orbit.
02:50It's designed to resurrect the entire program.
02:56After two decades of budget cuts and a loss of public interest, the shuttle has never
03:01made good on its promise to provide a routine bus service to space.
03:08By sending Krista into orbit, NASA hope to restore faith in their billion-dollar baby.
03:168.38am.
03:20One hour to liftoff.
03:23Krista and the six other astronauts kit up and prepare to board the spacecraft.
03:30Pilot Mike Smith is making his launch debut.
03:36Specialists Ron McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judy Resnick have flown three missions between
03:46them.
03:49Satellite specialist Greg Jarvis is on his first trip.
03:52And leading the mission is Commander Dick Scobie.
03:58As usual, it's a real pleasure to be at the Cape, to come down here and participate in
04:03something that the Cape does better than anybody in the world, and that's launching space vehicles.
04:08To finally be the commander of a mission into space was a tremendous reward to him.
04:18He loved to dance the skies.
04:21Dick and June were childhood sweethearts, married for 14 years.
04:25This is the second time she is watching her husband set off for space.
04:35Of the four spacecraft in the fleet, Challenger is by far the most reliable.
04:42In the two and a half years since its space debut, it has flown 40% of all shuttle missions,
04:48sending 51 astronauts into space on nine trouble-free flights.
05:02But this mission has not been going to plan.
05:05Bad weather has delayed launch for over a week.
05:09Unseasonably cold weather has covered the pad in sheets of ice 7.5 centimetres thick
05:15and icicles over a metre long.
05:21No shuttle has ever launched in such freezing conditions.
05:29Launch control decide to delay liftoff for two hours in the hope that most of the ice
05:33will melt.
05:35From their position in the stands, Christa's parents are worried.
05:40Just didn't feel right at all.
05:42My husband said, he said, you know, if I could go and take her off that thing, I would.
05:47Good morning, Christa.
05:48How's it going today?
05:49Good morning.
05:50Hope so too.
05:51With 30 minutes to go, air traffic control clears Eastern Airlines Flight 677 to fly
06:00over the Cape en route to Tampa, Florida.
06:04Suddenly the plane hits a strong jet stream.
06:09The pilot descends to 9,000 metres and the turbulence stops.
06:17He spots Challenger still on the launch pad and assumes the wind must be the reason for
06:21the delay.
06:22This is mission control, Houston at the T-minus nine minute mark.
06:27Flight controllers are ready to support launch.
06:30Roger, welcome.
06:31With only nine minutes to liftoff, launch control checks to make sure all of the shuttle's
06:36propulsion systems are functioning properly.
06:42Challenger's three main engines can burn nearly 4,000 litres of fuel a second, fed from the
06:48giant 46 metre tall external tank.
06:51But the two solid rocket boosters are the real powerhouses of the system.
06:59Their three million kilograms of thrust accelerate it to 28,000 kilometres per hour, the speed
07:06it needs to break free of Earth's gravity.
07:12All of Challenger's systems are functioning correctly.
07:14The decision is unanimous.
07:17Mission control, this is Kennedy, we are go for launch.
07:29T-minus two minutes.
07:32With so much fuel in one place, the risks are clear to everyone.
07:35But in the history of American spaceflight, no astronaut has ever been killed at liftoff.
07:41A comforting fact for some.
07:44I suppose every once in a while you'd think about it, but you'd say, oh, NASA can do no
07:50wrong.
07:51And like Christa said, you know, mom, that shuttle, they can shut that down the very
07:57last second if anything's wrong.
08:0010, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and liftoff, and liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission.
08:30Liftoff confirmed.
08:31Liftoff.
08:32For Christa, it's the culmination of five months training, and a lifetime dream.
08:38Roger, roll program.
08:40Roger, roll, Challenger.
08:43Almost immediately, the shuttle begins a manoeuvre to roll over, putting the spacecraft on the
08:48correct trajectory for orbit.
08:51Good roll, Flight.
08:54Rog, good roll.
08:56Good roll, program confirmed.
08:59Challenger now heading downrange.
09:00Challenger is already travelling at nearly 1,600 kilometres per hour.
09:08As it climbs beyond the 10-kilometre mark, a severe crosswind suddenly slams into the
09:13shuttle.
09:19Over 3,000 kilometres away, engineer Roger Beaujolais is watching in horror.
09:26Challenger is on the verge of disaster.
09:30As Challenger rockets upwards, it's travelling nine times faster than a speeding bullet.
09:3758 seconds into flight, it encounters a side wind, but a second later, the shaking stops.
09:46Now comes the most critical part of the ascent, a phase known as Max Q, where the aerodynamic
09:54forces are at their greatest.
09:58Travel too fast, and the shuttle will break apart.
10:04Mission Control, under the command of Flight Director Jay Green, order Challenger to throttle
10:09down her engines.
10:11Three at 65.
10:1265 final.
10:13Detail confirmed throttle.
10:15At 66 seconds, Challenger gets the all-clear.
10:24It has made it safely through Max Q and enters the thinner air of the upper atmosphere.
10:31Now it must accelerate to over 28,000 kilometres per hour to escape Earth's gravity.
10:37It's time to turn up the main engines to full power.
10:42Mission Control gives the cue.
10:45Challenger, go and throttle up.
10:47Challenger, go and throttle up.
11:06Suddenly, Challenger is engulfed in a massive fireball.
11:10Mission Control are stunned.
11:13They lose all contact with the spacecraft.
11:16Flight, GC, we've had negative contact. Lost downlink.
11:19Copy.
11:21Their data hasn't indicated that anything was wrong.
11:24OK, all operators, watch your data carefully.
11:31Nobody is sure quite what has happened.
11:34Krista's parents can't believe their eyes.
11:38The shuttle was gone.
11:40And we all knew, everybody knew that something was wrong.
11:45Something horrible was wrong, but of course nobody knew what it was.
11:50Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation.
11:54Obviously a major malfunction.
11:58At that moment, we were in the middle of a storm.
12:01At that moment, when we were our most excited, it came crashing down.
12:13The boosters remain intact, careering wildly off course.
12:18For safety, they are destroyed by remote control.
12:22You know, you just hope, against all odds, that the orbiter was able to separate.
12:29As the spiraling debris falls to Earth and plunges into the Atlantic,
12:33it's becoming all too clear what has happened.
12:37Flight, FIDO.
12:38Go ahead.
12:39RSO reports vehicle exploded.
12:44Copy.
12:45We have a report of an explosion.
12:47Copy.
12:49We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.
12:53Flight director confirms that.
12:54We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point.
13:02We were just so stricken that this had happened.
13:07Because I never expected anything to happen.
13:11It was unreal.
13:13It was unreal.
13:21Incredibly, as the wreckage emerges from the fireball, the crew compartment is still in one piece.
13:30FIDO flight.
13:31Go ahead.
13:32Do the RSOs have an impact point?
13:34Stand by.
13:35At mission control, Jay Green gets the exact location where the wreckage hit the ocean.
13:40DOD RSO reports that all SAR forces have been scrambled and they are on their way.
13:49The massive search and rescue operation is immediately set in motion.
13:54They're hoping that the astronauts may still be alive.
14:02Then, they spot a parachute lowering from the sky.
14:06But it's a false hope.
14:08The parachute is only attached to the nose of one of the boosters.
14:12It's just part of the debris that continues to rain down over the Atlantic.
14:18The crew compartment can no longer be seen.
14:21Having fallen over 19 kilometres, it must have hit the ocean at over 320 kilometres per hour.
14:31The crew didn't stand a chance.
14:33We became numb, speechless.
14:38And our hearts were shattering, much like those pieces that were falling from the sky.
14:52When salvage teams manage to locate the remains of the crew module, what they discover is truly horrifying.
15:00Space Shuttle Challenger was travelling at nearly twice the speed of sound
15:05when it was torn into thousands of pieces.
15:10With little evidence to go on, NASA have an almost impossible task
15:14to work out exactly what took place.
15:18But with the recovery of the crew compartment,
15:20they should be able to piece together what happened to the crew module.
15:24But with the recovery of the crew compartment,
15:27they should be able to piece together what happened to the astronauts after the massive blast.
15:34The crew's helmets give NASA their biggest lead.
15:39Each astronaut had an air supply attached to their helmet to be used in an emergency.
15:47In the wreckage, NASA find that three of them had been activated.
15:53It's a horrifying discovery.
15:59It means that at least three of the astronauts survived the explosion
16:03and could have been alive during the fall to Earth.
16:06A journey of over two and a half minutes.
16:12At the memorial service, President Reagan pays tribute to the brave crew.
16:17All the relatives of the astronauts are there, including June and her family.
16:24We were just barely able to put one step in front of the other.
16:28There was silence among all these family members.
16:32We were stunned.
16:36You never can prepare for anything like this.
16:40The best we can do is remember our seven astronauts
16:46bringing life and love and joy to those who knew them and pride to a nation.
16:54I was just sad. I just felt the loss.
16:59I felt naturally that it never should have happened.
17:06And I couldn't do anything about it.
17:09Dick, Mike, Judy, El, Ron, Greg and Krista,
17:16your families and your country,
17:19mourn your passing.
17:21We bid you goodbye.
17:24We will never forget you.
17:27While America mourns, the pressure is on to find out exactly what caused the shuttle to explode.
17:34A presidential commission spend five months investigating the disaster
17:39and discover that the right solid rocket booster malfunctioned.
17:43The booster is made up of four segments bolted together.
17:47Where they meet is called a field joint.
17:50The area is sealed by a pair of compressed rubber O-rings.
17:54At ignition, the rocket fires up in under one hundredth of a second
17:58and forces the booster's steel casing outwards.
18:02The O-rings must expand at a speed faster than a blink of an eye
18:06to stop the rocket fuel escaping out the joint.
18:09The commission found that due to the freezing temperatures,
18:12the O-rings in the right booster's lowermost field joint
18:15did not enlarge as they should have.
18:17Gases twice as hot as the inside of a blast furnace
18:20escaped with deadly results.
18:23And liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission.
18:29As the shuttle accelerated skywards past Max Q,
18:32a flame burnt away the support attaching the booster to the external tank.
18:37As the attachment broke free completely, the entire bottom section gave way.
18:42The nose of the booster crashed into the top of the tank with devastating results.
18:49But now, one man is convinced there's more to the story
18:53than the O-rings and the weather.
18:56After the investigation, a fairly simple conclusion was drawn
18:59in the public mind about what went wrong.
19:02Cold plus O-rings.
19:05Put them together and you have a Challenger explosion.
19:09Well, there was more to the story.
19:12Renowned author James Child has spent 20 years
19:15unravelling some of the world's worst technological disasters.
19:19He's investigated everything from the Chernobyl nuclear explosion
19:23to the Air France Concorde disaster.
19:27Child believes that in the Challenger accident,
19:30compromised O-rings had a direct impact on the world.
19:34And that's why he's so proud of his work.
19:39One of the thoughts had been that if an O-ring failed,
19:43everything would go to pieces right there on the launch pad.
19:47Well, that didn't happen.
19:51Instead, it broke up at 73 seconds.
19:59Certainly a mystery to the world.
20:03But it's a mystery to the world.
20:07Certainly a mystery is laid in front of us.
20:10Something else must have been going on
20:13beyond a simple O-ring failure.
20:17Child knows that every detail of Challenger's launch
20:20will be vital in unravelling the puzzle.
20:23He begins by re-examining the evidence
20:26that led the Commission to their conclusion
20:29that the O-rings were to blame.
20:32The original investigation began by looking at the footage
20:36captured by more than 200 cameras as the mission got underway.
20:45In the first 2 seconds, the images reveal mysterious black smoke
20:49billowing out from behind the right booster
20:52near the external tank.
20:59Using the camera positions, the Commission tried to work out
21:02exactly where the smoke was coming from.
21:05The camera E-60, positioned nearly 400 metres from the launch pad,
21:09had a direct line of sight to the right booster.
21:14But it only got a partial view of the smoke.
21:21Next, they looked at an alternative position
21:24almost 600 metres west, camera E-63,
21:27in the hope that this had captured a better shot.
21:32But again, the source of the smoke was obscured.
21:40The precise location of the smoke was unclear.
21:44So the Commission compared the two shots
21:47and calculated its origin to be within a 1.3 metre section
21:51of the right rocket booster's surface, 13 metres up.
21:55Analysis of the footage also indicated
21:58the smoke was billowing upwards.
22:01Additional information, together with the black colour of the smoke,
22:05showed that it was the O-rings that were burning.
22:08But Jim Childs is not convinced this is the whole truth.
22:12If the O-rings had been breached and were leaking rocket fuel,
22:16the super-hot gases should have burned through the booster casing immediately,
22:20blowing the entire shuttle to pieces at liftoff.
22:25As Childs scrutinises the official report,
22:28he realises he's not the only one with unanswered questions.
22:32My name is Roger Beaujolais.
22:35Engineer Roger Beaujolais worked for Thiokol,
22:38the company that built the boosters for NASA.
22:41I swear to tell the truth...
22:44He testified to the Commission in 1986.
22:47He too realised that a more complex chain of events must have taken place.
22:51If we had a leak in a joint, it would blow up right at ignition
22:55and not only blow up the shuttle, kill the astronauts,
22:59but it would blow up all the launch pad facilities also.
23:03Beaujolais' evidence stunned the Commission.
23:06He revealed that he knew that the cold weather would jeopardise the mission.
23:10His conviction was based on evidence from a previous launch.
23:15A year earlier, in 1985,
23:18Discovery lifted off on a cold January morning.
23:21The temperature was just 11 degrees Celsius,
23:24the coldest launch conditions prior to Challenger's liftoff.
23:29When Discovery's rocket boosters were recovered,
23:32Beaujolais found a major problem in one of the field joints.
23:36There was a large amount of steam in the launch pad,
23:39which caused the launch pad to collapse.
23:43There was a large amount of soot
23:45and signs of scorching around the O-rings.
23:48Beaujolais believed the cold made the O-rings rigid
23:51and prevented them sealing.
23:54On further examination, he noticed how close Discovery had come to catastrophe.
23:59The O-rings were less than a millimetre away from burning through completely.
24:04But as Childs reads the report,
24:07he realises Beaujolais' testimony didn't stop there.
24:10We scheduled a teleconference between...
24:13He made a far more damning revelation.
24:16A full 13 hours before liftoff,
24:19Beaujolais had actually tried to stop the launch.
24:22This here, gentlemen, proves without a doubt
24:25that the O-rings will not seal the joint.
24:28Had he been listened to, the disaster may never have happened at all.
24:34Journalist Jim Childs is re-examining a critical aspect
24:38of the Challenger shuttle disaster.
24:41Why didn't the vehicle blow up at its most vulnerable point,
24:45during liftoff, when all the evidence says it should have?
24:49As he reads the report, he finds out rocket engineer Roger Beaujolais
24:53predicted such a scenario at a teleconference held the night before launch.
24:58Taking part were Morton Thiokol's four senior managers,
25:02NASA managers at Kennedy Space Centre
25:05and in Tennessee, NASA's head of rocket boosters, Lawrence Malloy.
25:09I don't think that you fully appreciate the seriousness...
25:12The question was asked,
25:14are you guys concerned about launching in cold weather tomorrow?
25:17When I heard that, I almost went nuts.
25:20I recommend that we do not launch...
25:23..if the temperature is below 53 degrees Fahrenheit.
25:27When Beaujolais warned them that the freezing temperatures
25:30made it too dangerous to go ahead,
25:32Thiokol's managers immediately advised NASA not to launch.
25:36We recommend not launching.
25:39But NASA considered the data to be inconclusive.
25:42I am appalled. How can you possibly enter into this conversation
25:46the night before a launch?
25:48My God, Thiokol, that makes no sense.
25:51Larry Malloy states,
25:53My God, Thiokol, when do you want me to launch, next April?
25:57Why are you guys trying to come up with launch commit criteria
26:00on the eve of a launch?
26:02In response to Malloy,
26:04Thiokol's managers put the teleconference on hold
26:07and reconsidered their position.
26:09It's obvious that our hands are tied.
26:11When it looked like they were changing their minds,
26:14Beaujolais made a last-ditch attempt to convince them to abort.
26:18This, gentlemen, this is real data.
26:21He reminded them of the burnt O-rings
26:24from discoveries near fatal flight a year earlier.
26:28I was literally screaming at them to look at the photos
26:31and not ignore what they were telling us.
26:33You have to be blind, deaf and dumb
26:36not to know what these two pictures are telling you.
26:39The longer the delay in sealing the joint,
26:43the greater the risk of disaster.
26:46But this time, Beaujolais' evidence was ignored.
26:51The general manager said in a soft voice,
26:54General manager said in a soft voice,
26:56take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat.
27:00That is the strongest metaphor to play ball that I have ever heard
27:04in my 27-year engineering career in the aerospace industry.
27:07OK, gentlemen, let's take a vote on it.
27:13Go for launch.
27:16OK.
27:22All four managers agreed to launch.
27:26This is Viacol, back online.
27:28What's your answer? It's a go to launch.
27:31When they told NASA,
27:33Lawrence Malloy immediately accepted their decision.
27:36I was so angry.
27:39I had to stay as composed as I could
27:42by separating myself from what was going on in the meeting at that point
27:46or else I would have probably jumped up and punched somebody out.
27:52The next day, as Beaujolais watched the launch,
27:55he fully expected to witness a ground-level blast
27:58of gargantuan proportions.
28:03As the vehicle ignited and cleared the launch tower,
28:07a big sigh of relief came through me.
28:13We had just dodged a bullet because it hadn't exploded on the pad.
28:17But, of course, Beaujolais' relief was short-lived.
28:24I sit in sun silence and I can't tell you to this day, 20 years later,
28:28how long I sat there.
28:33I eventually found my way back to my office.
28:36I actually put my feet up on the desk
28:39and I hit the corner between two walls
28:42and I fought for hours to hold back the tears
28:46because I was an emotional wreck.
28:56If even the one man who predicted disaster
28:59was surprised at what actually happened,
29:01then surely there's more to discover
29:03about how the seven astronauts were killed.
29:06Like the commission before him,
29:08there was no image of the black smoke
29:10leaking from the right solid rocket booster.
29:12After all, this was the key evidence
29:14that pointed to the O-rings being the cause.
29:19Are there any more clues to be had from this precious footage?
29:22One becomes immediately obvious.
29:25The smoke starts, then stops two seconds later.
29:32Why?
29:34We know from the film the smoke starts shortly after launch,
29:37goes for about two seconds, it stops.
29:40We know that something has stopped it.
29:43We don't know what.
29:45And there is more.
29:48The smoke does not come out in one long plume.
29:52It comes out as a series of nine short puffs.
29:55What is causing this pulsing?
29:58The investigators knew that the booster was put under incredible stress
30:02at the point of ignition,
30:04so they examined this critical phase in more detail.
30:08To fire the booster, a flame is shot from the top downwards
30:12through a tunnel in the middle of the solid fuel.
30:15In less than a hundredth of a second, the rocket ignites.
30:19The explosive force causes the steel casing
30:22to expand outwards in one sharp movement.
30:28The gases burning inside are now under tremendous pressure
30:32and firing out of the exhaust at over 8,500 kilometres per hour.
30:37But despite being under continuous strain,
30:40the field joint on Challenger's right booster somehow sealed itself
30:45and the smoke stopped.
30:47Childs examines how the investigators answered this thorny mystery.
30:52They looked further back at the take-off sequence.
30:57Six seconds before liftoff, the main engines fire up.
31:02At this point, the whole shuttle is still bolted to the ground.
31:07The enormous thrust pushes Challenger's nose over by a metre.
31:15As it returns to vertical, the bolts fixing the shuttle to the pad release
31:20and simultaneously the boosters ignite.
31:26This rocking motion sends a shockwave throughout the entire vehicle.
31:31It's a phenomenon NASA engineers call the twang.
31:37As the vibration passes through the structure,
31:40is it possible that the resonance is opening and closing the seal
31:44inside the field joint?
31:46Is this what is causing the black smoke to billow out in puffs?
31:51If so, then the timing of the puffs
31:54should match exactly the twang's natural frequency of three times a second.
32:02From careful examination of the film,
32:05the smoke does indeed seem to billow out at the same rate.
32:10It's clear from the match between the frequency of the smoke puffs
32:14and the vibration of the solid rocket booster
32:17that the twang is directly responsible for these puffs of smoke.
32:23It's a major step forward.
32:25As the solid rocket booster flexed,
32:28it must have caused the field joint to open momentarily,
32:32producing the telltale puffs of smoke.
32:38But the second, more difficult question remains.
32:42If the O-rings were being breached,
32:44why did the smoke suddenly stop 2.6 seconds into liftoff?
32:49The most likely scenario is that something blocked the hole.
32:53That really can be the only explanation.
32:57With the booster running at such intense temperature and pressure,
33:00only one thing could have blocked the hole.
33:03The rocket fuel itself.
33:10In the 50s, solid rocket fuel was revolutionised
33:13when a new element was added.
33:15Aluminium.
33:18It raises the burning temperature
33:20and increases the thrust by about 50%.
33:24But aluminium-enhanced rocket fuel
33:27leaves a metallic residue known as slag,
33:30which is normally blown out of the exhaust along with the hot gases.
33:34After reading the detailed reports,
33:36Childs agrees the slag might be the key to the mystery.
33:40We'll never know the exact dynamics, but it fits the physics.
33:47The theory is that as the booster burned,
33:49aluminium slag built up around the gap left by the burning O-ring
33:53and stopped the hot gases leaking through the field joint.
33:57This mechanism would finally explain
33:59why the shuttle didn't blow up at liftoff.
34:03So given that the booster survived
34:05the most dangerous phase of any mission,
34:08the traumatic shake-up of launch,
34:10why did disaster strike 73 seconds into flight?
34:18The Commission uncovered two important leads.
34:22At 58.8 seconds, a film camera captures a flame
34:27appearing on the side of the right booster.
34:31Moments later, there's an unexpected reading in Challenger's flight data.
34:38More than 2,000 transmitters spread all over the vehicle
34:41give Mission Control an accurate account
34:44of the spacecraft's behaviour in real time.
34:48The information called telemetry is recorded on the ground.
34:54At 60 seconds, the pressure in the booster
34:57suddenly starts to fall from 44.7 kilograms per square centimetre
35:02to 43 kilograms per square centimetre.
35:07Something has gone wrong in the right-hand booster.
35:10It's 24 pounds per square inch low.
35:15A loss of pressure can mean only one thing.
35:18The hole has reappeared and rocket fuel is escaping at high speed.
35:24So Childs now has to find the reason why the hole opened.
35:29Immediately he notices what seems too much like a coincidence.
35:34At the very moment the flame appears, 58.8 seconds into the flight,
35:39Challenger passes through the danger zone known as Max Q.
35:45This is where the air resistance experienced by the shuttle
35:48is at its greatest and the structural forces peak.
35:52Given that Max Q occurred just as the flame appeared,
35:55Childs wonders if the stresses on the ship could have dislodged the slag.
36:01Why would it open again?
36:03It might well have to do with the stresses on the shuttle
36:06at around the 60-second point.
36:09That might well be enough to open it up and free those chunks of slag.
36:17It's a reasonable theory, but there's no proof.
36:20The shuttle was not over-speeding and had correctly throttled down to 65%,
36:25so it shouldn't have been unduly stressed.
36:28Engines at 65%, three engines running normally,
36:31three good fuel cells, three good APUs.
36:35Perhaps something else was going on.
36:38Reading through a little-known report by an engineer
36:41who studied the accident on Morton Thiokol's behalf,
36:44Childs stumbles on an intriguing possibility.
36:49He takes another look at the film of Challenger's ascent.
36:59Just as the report states,
37:01the trail of exhaust has a very unusual shape.
37:06The column of smoke displays a dramatic zigzag,
37:09then returns to vertical just moments before the astronauts were killed.
37:15Is this smoke trail evidence that the shuttle was hit
37:18by a strong side wind during its ascent?
37:23Initially, it's hard to make the theory stand up.
37:28In the hours leading up to liftoff,
37:30NASA's meteorologists sent up several weather balloons
37:33to check for strong crosswinds.
37:38Their data indicates there was nothing unusual.
37:42But Childs isn't convinced the weather balloons got it right.
37:47Closer examination reveals the balloons had drifted
37:50over 64 kilometres downwind during their ascent.
37:55It's unlikely they would have experienced
37:57the same weather conditions as Challenger.
38:00Further intriguing evidence comes from the telemetry
38:03that monitors the ship's direction.
38:09At 58 seconds into flight, Challenger's main engine nozzles
38:13suddenly alter their thrust angle by two degrees.
38:18The large adjustment is an automated reaction
38:21to keep the craft on track and suggests that some external force
38:25could have been pushing Challenger off course.
38:30What's more, the shuttle's lateral accelerometer,
38:33a device that measures sideways movement,
38:36throws up a surprising reading at exactly the same moment.
38:41There's a sinister gap in the data.
38:45This could mean one of two things.
38:47Either there was a glitch in the telemetry,
38:49or the lateral acceleration was so violent
38:52that the reading went right off the scale.
38:54If the second of these two options is the truth,
38:57it could be the key as to why Challenger blew apart,
39:01taking with it the lives of seven astronauts.
39:07Jim Childs believes he's close to finding out the truth
39:10behind what may have caused the Challenger disaster.
39:15The telemetry indicates that the shuttle was knocked violently sideways
39:19at 58 seconds into the flight.
39:22He returns to the image of Challenger's smoke trail.
39:27And sure enough, at 10 kilometres,
39:30the smoke trail has an extreme dogleg to it.
39:34The zigzag could be evidence of a fast-moving narrow layer of air,
39:38a jet stream, tracking rapidly east.
39:43Finally comes the last piece of the puzzle.
39:46The report states that just 30 minutes before liftoff,
39:49a commercial jet flew above the launch site.
39:54As it did so, the Boeing 757 was hit by a headwind
39:58of over 300 kilometres per hour.
40:03It's a shocking revelation.
40:08It looks like the Challenger was hit by a jet stream
40:11at a speed of over 1,000 kilometres per hour.
40:16It looks like Challenger must have passed through the same layer of air
40:19as it climbed towards space.
40:24As it entered the jet stream, it would have been hit broadside
40:27with a force equivalent to Hurricane Katrina.
40:31It seems like some evil twist of fate.
40:34The slag is blown free and now hot rocket exhaust,
40:39more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is free to blast through
40:43and to start eating away that steel case.
40:47Now, by rewinding the events of that ill-fated flight
40:51and by following the evidence uncovered during the extensive investigation,
40:55we can finally reveal exactly what caused the shuttle Challenger disaster
41:0073 seconds after liftoff.
41:044, 3...
41:0773 seconds to disaster.
41:11The solid rocket boosters ignite.
41:16Inside the right booster, the O-rings have been hardened
41:19by the freezing temperatures and are unable to keep
41:22the lowermost field joint sealed.
41:24They start to burn away.
41:26And liftoff! Liftoff!
41:29And liftoff! Liftoff!
41:32As super-hot gases escape,
41:34small pieces of aluminium slag from the rocket fuel
41:37build up and block the hole,
41:40preventing a catastrophe on the launch pad.
41:4615 seconds to disaster.
41:48As Challenger enters a fast-moving yet very narrow jet stream,
41:53it is shaken violently.
41:57The aluminium slag is dislodged.
42:01Almost immediately, a flame appears on the right solid rocket booster.
42:108 seconds to disaster.
42:14With blowtorch intensity, the flame penetrates the external tank
42:19and liquid hydrogen starts to spill out.
42:221 second to disaster.
42:24The attachment between the booster and the tank breaks free
42:27and the entire bottom section of the tank gives way.
42:30The Inferno thrusts the hydrogen compartment upwards
42:34into the oxygen-filled container,
42:36just as the nose of the booster
42:38crashes into the top of the external tank.
42:44Nearly 2 million litres of fuel combust instantaneously.
42:48The shuttle breaks apart.
42:55For Childs, it's a sobering end to his investigation.
42:59It could have all been so different.
43:02He is certain that had the wind not been so strong,
43:06the slag could have remained in place,
43:08the booster pressure would have remained normal,
43:11and 2 minutes into flight,
43:13the rocket boosters would have disengaged
43:15and separated from the shuttle.
43:20Challenger and its crew would have then been safely on their way to space.
43:24Confirm good solid rocket booster separation.
43:27If the aluminium slag had only hung on for another 62 seconds,
43:33the astronauts might be alive today.
43:37My husband was very angry, very angry.
43:41In fact, he was so angry, they were worried about him
43:44that he might have a heart attack.
43:46And he never really lost that anger.
43:50He blamed NASA.
43:52He felt it never should have happened
43:55and he had to do something about it.
43:58He had to do something about it.
44:01He blamed NASA.
44:03He felt it never should have happened
44:06and he had lost his daughter, his pride and joy.
44:11I never thought I was angry because I was just sad.
44:15I just felt the loss.
44:19But it had happened and there wasn't any way of bringing her back
44:22or any of them back.
44:26In their final report,
44:28the mission put the shuttle Challenger disaster down to cold weather,
44:32bad decisions and an unrealistic flight schedule.
44:38My world just came crashing down to hear about the causes.
44:43It was one of the most difficult days for all of us.
44:49We were angry.
44:51We were sad.
44:54We were sorry.
44:56A tremendous loss for us.
44:59They held the managers of both NASA and Morton Firecall
45:03responsible for the decision to fly.
45:07NASA had promised prompt, routine access to space
45:11that would be affordable
45:13and it really couldn't meet any of those conditions.
45:16And so the pressure built, the mistakes were made,
45:20the signals were missed
45:23and so rather than an O-ring,
45:26it was the system that brought Challenger down.
45:31In the months following the disaster,
45:33Morton Firecall paid the astronauts' families around $4.6 million
45:38but were awarded a $1.8 billion contract
45:42to develop a new range of rocket boosters.
45:46NASA's Lawrence Malloy was offered a promotion
45:49to Deputy Director of All Propulsion Systems.
45:54Roger Beaujolais resigned from Morton Firecall
45:58and suffered a nervous breakdown.
46:01The first two years after the disaster were a living hell.
46:07I did nothing wrong
46:09and everybody has the responsibility
46:12to do what they get paid for
46:15and that is to stand up for what they know is right
46:18and what their profession demands of them
46:21and that's all I did and I'd do it again.
46:25The shuttle program was grounded for three years
46:28while the spacecraft was redesigned
46:30and a broad range of safety systems put into place.
46:37But even so, in 2003,
46:39Columbia burned apart on its return journey from space.
46:44Seven more astronauts lost their lives.
46:47The investigation into the accident concluded
46:50that NASA had failed to learn many of the lessons of Challenger.
46:57To this day, the agency's hopes for routine space travel
47:01have never been realized
47:03and no other private citizen has ever flown aboard the shuttle.
47:20NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology