27 Years Ago
Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, Payload
Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik, Commander
Dick Scobee. Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Pilot, Michael Smith and
Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka smile for one of the last photos taken of them as they head to board United States Orbital Vehicle 099...better known as Challenger.
One of the problems was that the capsule had pure oxygen in it. And a lot of things that won't hardly even burn in normal air will burn explosively in a pure oxygen atmosphere.
2
Indeed.
That was the crux of why it was a scandal and not just a tragic learning curve. Pure O2 has some advantages for spacecraft but North American didn't bother to test their "fireproof" materials in pure O2.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jan 27 17:33:47 2013 (vp6an)
3
Also, the hatch opened inwards, and between the pressure test and the overpressure caused by the fire, there was no way to open it.
After that, all hatches opened outwards, and had explosive bolts too.
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Jan 27 23:34:49 2013 (cZPoz)
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