Late January is a somber time at NASA as the US Space Agency remembers those that lost their lives in pursuit of knowledge not attainable on the Earth. January 27, 28 and February 1 all mark dates where US astronauts lost their lives either in flight, or in training for an upcoming mission.
January 27 1967 - Apollo 1 Fire
On January 27, 1967, 3 US astronauts lost their lives in the Apollo 1 fire during a launch countdown test. Gus Grissom, the 2nd US astronaut in space, Ed White, the 1st US astronaut to walk in space, and rookie Roger Chaffee were training to make the first manned flight of the new Apollo command module. It is thought that electrical arcing started the fire, and as the spacecraft was pressurized with 100 percent pure oxygen, many items in the cabin that normally would not burn, became highly flammable. The 20 month delay in the Apollo program ensured that future astronauts that flew on Apollo, did so with a higher degree of safety.
Apollo 1 Crew
Gus Grissom
Ed White
Roger Chaffee
January 28 1986 - STS-51-L Space Shuttle Challenger
19 years and 1 day after the Apollo 1 fire, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched into a cold Florida sky only to explode 73 seconds after lift off. The previous evening saw the shuttle exposed to freezing temperatures that impaired the ability of rubber O-rings in the joints of the solid rocket boosters to provide an effective seal. This resulted in the right booster blasting hot gases onto the strut attaching it to the external fuel tank. The strut failed and the booster pivoted into the external tank causing it to explode. The Challenger disintegrated causing the loss of all 7 astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian in space.
Challenger Crew
Greg Jarvis
Christa McAuliffe
Ronald McNair
Ellison Onizuka
Judith Resnik
Michael J. Smith
Dick Scobee
February 1 2003 - STS-107 - Space Shuttle Columbia
On January 16, 2003 the space shuttle Columbia suffered damage to its left wing soon after lift off. Columbia spent 16 days in space before re-entering the Earths atmosphere on February 1. It was during re-entry that hot plasma forced its way past the thermal tiles on the damaged wing causing the Columbia to break up over the United States with the loss of the 7 crew members.
Columbia Crew
Rick D. Husband
William C. McCool
Michael P. Anderson
Kalpana Chawla
David M. Brown
Laurel Clark
Ilan Ramon
Conclusion
Space flight is dangerous. We should never forget that. When the space shuttle was developed, it was thought that 1 major accident would occur for every 100 launches. Sadly, it turned out to be 2 catastrophic failures in 135 launches. In fact, a report released in 2010 showed that NASA vastly underestimated the risks associated with the shuttle. This report said that there was a 1 in 9 chance of failure during the first 9 launches.
The risks associated with space flight must be remembered as commercial enterprises begin providing "joy flights" to those with a suitable bank balance.
[This was originally posted on January 28th 2013]
Source: Amazing info
