Challenger and Columbia Disasters

Two space shuttles have exploded during missions. Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff in 1986, and Columbia disintegrated upon reentry in 2003.

The previous eight Challenger flights took place from April 4, 1983 (STS-6) to January 28, 1986 (STS-51-L), which tragically ended in the Challenger disaster.

The Columbia disaster in 2003 revealed flaws in NASA's safety culture, organization, and decision-making processes. It led to changes in communication protocols, safety procedures, and interagency collaboration to improve astronaut safety and mission success. NASA also implemented new inspection and repair techniques for shuttle heat shields to prevent similar incidents in the future.

After realizing there flight would end sooner than expected there insides boiled and blood left there ears at an astonishing rate. The explosion caused there insides to burst out of there rectum. Basically they died. Very soon actually after the explosion.

The space shuttle Challenger had its first flight in April 1983.

The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986 was caused by the failure of an O-ring seal in one of the solid rocket boosters. The O-ring failed to properly seal, allowing hot gases to escape and ultimately lead to the explosion of the shuttle.

The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff at 11:39 a.m. Eastern Time on January 28, 1986.

Yes, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry on February 1, 2003, resulting in the loss of all seven crew members.

An average space shuttle trip typically lasts around two weeks, including time spent in orbit. This allows for activities such as conducting experiments, repairing satellites, or delivering supplies to the International Space Station. The exact duration may vary depending on the mission objectives.

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986. It was a devastating event that resulted in the loss of all seven crew members.

Kalpana Chawla died in the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003.

The maximum speed reached by a manned spacecraft was during the Apollo 10 mission in 1969, when the spacecraft reached a speed of about 24,791 mph (39,897 km/h) relative to Earth. This speed was necessary to escape Earth's gravity and travel to the Moon.

Yes - all of the crew remains were recovered when the Shuttle Crew Compartment was discovered during recovery operations in the weeks following the accident. It was determined from both evidence in the compartment and autopsies that several were still alive after the explosion (emergency oxygen canisters had been activated) and that they survived until impacting the ocean.

Space Shuttle Columbia is not buried. I think you mean Space Shuttle Challenger, which in buried in two minutemen missile silos on the abandoned Launch complex 31. Space Shuttle Columbia remains are stored on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

Space shuttle Columbia broke apart on reentry on February 1, 2003.

After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Navy divers recovered the remains of the astronauts from the debris in the ocean where the shuttle broke apart. The remains were found once the wreckage settled on the ocean floor, and the recovery operation was carried out in a respectful and solemn manner.

The Challenger missions, officially known as Space Shuttle Challenger missions, flew from April 4, 1983 until January 28, 1986. The final Challenger mission, STS-51-L, tragically ended in the destruction of the shuttle 73 seconds after liftoff.

The space shuttle had reached a distance of about ten miles (16 kilometers) above the earth, before it broke apart some 73 seconds into its flight.

The space shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986, due to the failure of an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster. The crew, including teachers Christa McAuliffe and Sharon Christa McAuliffe, died in the explosion before the orbiter plummeted into the ocean.

All of the bodies were recovered, but it was never determined how the astronauts died. It is assumed they died due to the impact with the ocean, and not the explosion itself.

The Columbia Space Shuttle disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the tragic loss of all seven crew members on board.

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986.

The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003, tragically resulting in the loss of all seven crew members on board. The accident was caused by damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system, which occurred during launch when a piece of foam insulation struck the left wing. This allowed hot gases to enter the wing during re-entry, leading to the shuttle's breakup.

Firstly, what happened to the Challenger to make it 'explode'? Well it was a very cold January and the mission had been delayed several times due to the weather. Eventually on January 28th 1986, the shuttle was ready to launch.

The freezing weather had caused an O-Ring (an object which seals part of the Solid Rocket Boosters) to fail. This was because it was too cold and the O-Ring could not seal in time.

The hot gases from inside the SRB began leaking out (after launch). These gases started hitting the side of the External Tank (orange cylindrical object). Eventually these gases began melting not only the side of the External Tank, but also the strut holding the SRB to the External Tank and the rest of the spacecraft.

At 73 seconds after lift-off, the strut holding the SRB failed and it pulled away from the spacecraft. The SRB then slammed into the External Tank which was starting to disintegrate due to the leak. The External Tank eventually disintegrated and Challenger fell away from the spacecraft and was instantly broken up by the abnormal aerodynamic forces.

The apparent 'explosion' was not an explosion, it was just a huge cloud of propellant gases from the External Tank. They were stored at cryogenic conditions (too cold to ignite).

When the spacecraft disintegrated, the two SRBs flew clear of the spacecraft and exited the cloud of gas. The External Tank had disintegrated fully and pieces of it were falling to Earth. Challenger had also disintegrated and pieces of that were falling also.

But the crew cabin (front piece of the Space Shuttle) remained intact and fell to the ocean at a nose-down attitude. There were four personal oxygen packs (PEAPs) on board and three of them were found to have been manually activated. This shows that at least three of the crew members were indeed alive following the original vehicle break-up.

Whether those crew members survived the next two and a half minute fall to the ocean is impossible to know. But it is likely that the crew at least passed out before then. This is because the air in the PEAPs was not pressurized so it would have been consumed too rapidly and it is also unlikely that the crew cabin remained pressurized.

Therefore it is certain that at least some of the crew were alive following the explosion. It is likely but not certain that they passed out and died during their fall to the ocean. But it is certain that any surviving crew members were killed when the crew cabin smashed into the ocean surface at over 200mph.

When the remains of the crew cabin were found, the crew members' remains were buried. A memorial stands for them at Arlington Cemetery and at the Kennedy Space Center.

Space Shuttle Discovery flew the first flight after the disaster (''Return to Flight'') in September 1988.

The Challenger was part of NASA's space shuttle program and its mission was to carry out a variety of activities in outer space, such as deploying satellites, conducting experiments, and performing scientific research. Its missions varied from repairing satellites to launching probes.