Challenger and Columbia Disasters

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.

The space shuttle that exploded in 1996 was the Space Shuttle Challenger.

The name of Christa McAuliffe's shuttle was the Space Shuttle Challenger.

The Challenger space shuttle was launched as part of NASA's space program to conduct a mission to deploy a communication satellite and conduct various experiments in space. Unfortunately, the Challenger disintegrated shortly after liftoff in 1986 due to O-ring failure, resulting in the tragic loss of all seven crew members.

The space shuttle discovery hasn't crashed. The shuttle program has lost two of it's fleet. The first accident happened to the Challenger in 1986. It was caused by a faulty 'O' ring on one of the solid rocket boosters. When it failed it allowed the booster to pierce the external fuel tank. This caused a massive explosion.

The second shuttle lost was the Columbia, which was the first shuttle that flew into space. It crashed because a large piece of foam came off of the external tank during the accent.The foam struck the leading edge of the wing and put a suitcase sized hole in it. During reentry, hot plasma rushed into the hole and destroyed the ships structure causing it to come apart and skid across the atmosphere and basically burn up. Many of its parts rained down across Texas.

The Challenger space shuttle no longer exists. It was destroyed shortly after take-off on 28th January 1986. The explosion was widely publicised, as it was being shown live on TV at the time.

The cause of the accident was attributed to 'O-ring failure' on the right solid rocket booster.

The space shuttle Challenger was on its way to space for mission STS-51L, which was supposed to deploy the TDRS-2 satellite. However, tragically, the Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986.

The space shuttle Columbia had a maximum speed of approximately 17,500 miles per hour during its orbit in space.

Yes, the bodies of the space shuttle Challenger disaster were recovered. The remains of the seven crew members were found in the debris after the shuttle disintegrated in mid-air during launch in 1986.

Friction between the space shuttle and the atmosphere generates heat during reentry. The high speeds at which the shuttle travels cause air molecules to compress and heat up, leading to the fiery heat shield protecting the spacecraft.