Challenger and Columbia Disasters

The Challenger explosion occurred at an altitude of about 46,000 feet.

There was a strong wind. Strong enough to get the Challenger blown off course.

No, Kalpana Chawla did not travel to the moon. She was an Indian-American astronaut who tragically lost her life in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Kalpana Chawla made history as the first woman of Indian descent to go to space.

The Challenger space shuttle exploded on January 28, 1986.

The Challenger space shuttle was first launched on April 4, 1983.

The percentage of astronauts that die per year is extremely low. Out of over 500 people who have flown to space, around 3-4% have died during a mission (Challenger and Columbia disasters), giving an average annual astronaut fatality rate of less than 1%. Astronauts undergo intense training and missions are carefully planned to minimize risks.

The Challenger was 74 seconds in-flight when it exploded.

The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry on February 1, 2003.

The debris from Space Shuttle Challenger is buried under a missile silo in Cape Canaveral AFB in Merritt Island, Florida.

No, the space shuttle Challenger was not going to the moon. The Challenger mission STS-51L was a planned space shuttle launch to deploy a communications satellite and perform various experiments in low Earth orbit. Tragically, the Challenger disintegrated shortly after liftoff on January 28, 1986.

The crew members of the Columbia space shuttle during its final mission, STS-107, were Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, and Laurel Clark. Tragically, they lost their lives when the shuttle disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003.

The re-entry must be fast in order to make the wings on the shuttle act like airplane wings in the thin upper atmosphere. Too slow, and the shuttle would drop like a stone. The higher the shuttle is, the faster is must travel to glide; as it travels down, the air slowly gets denser and the shuttle can travel slower to maintain the glide. In addition the shuttle would not be able to carry sufficient fuel for this, that is why air braking is used

The original Canadarm cost around $100 million to develop and build. The more recent version, Canadarm2, is estimated to have cost around $1.5 billion as part of the International Space Station program.

The space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, 73 seconds after liftoff due to the failure of an O-ring seal in one of the solid rocket boosters. The O-ring's failure allowed hot gases to escape, resulting in the catastrophic loss of the shuttle.

The primary mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia was to carry crew and cargo to space, support scientific research in microgravity, service satellites, and construct and maintain the International Space Station. It played a crucial role in advancing human spaceflight capabilities during its missions.

The Challenger STS 7 mission held multiple experiments as well as two satellites. While not a particular purpose it is notable that this flight also included the first American woman astronaut, Sally Ride.

Kalpana Chawla's spacecraft was named Space Shuttle Columbia. She was one of the astronauts on the ill-fated STS-107 mission in 2003 when the spacecraft tragically disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

The destruction was due to a hole punctured in the leading edge on one of Columbia's wings. The hole had formed when a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeled off during the launch 16 days earlier and struck the shuttle's left wing. During the intense heat of re-entry, hot gases penetrated the interior of the wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to break apart.

The Columbia space shuttle disintegrated upon re-entry on February 1, 2003, due to damage sustained to its thermal protection system during launch. A piece of foam insulation broke off from the external fuel tank and struck the shuttle's left wing, compromising its heat shield. This allowed hot gases to enter the wing during re-entry, leading to structural failure and the breakup of the spacecraft.

The Challenger 1 tank was a British battle tank designed in the 1980s. Its most notable crash occurred during a demonstration at an arms fair in Abu Dhabi in 1991, when an undercarriage strut failed, causing the tank to lose control and crash into an obstacle. The accident highlighted design flaws in the tank's suspension system.

The entire crew of STS-51-L (Challenger) were killed.

* Michael J. Smith * Dick Scobee * Ronald McNair * Ellison Onizuka * Christa McAuliffe (a civilian school teacher)

* Gregory Jarvis * Judith Resnik.

Two space shuttles, the Challenger in 1986 and the Columbia in 2003, disintegrated during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. These tragic accidents resulted in the loss of all crew members on board both missions.

Two out of five Space Shuttles: Challager and Columbia, were the only 2 shuttles to be lost, challager exploded 72 seconds after takeoff while Columbia burned up in the atmosphere.

Two of the space shuttles that exploded were the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986 and the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003. Both tragedies resulted in the loss of crew members and led to investigations and reforms in the space shuttle program.

The two space shuttles that tragically exploded were the Challenger in 1986 and the Columbia in 2003. Both disasters resulted in the loss of the entire crew on board.