Multiple Causes Downed The Challenger Essay Example for Free

Multiple Causes Downed The challenger EssayThe United States has always been proud of its space exploration endeavors. NASAs programs have always lead the world in technology and performance. All was going well for the space wench program until January of 1986 when the competition exploded 73 seconds into the flight, killing all the crew. Since then, the shuttle program has been besieged by contr e very(prenominal)placesy, much of it stemming over the causes of the competition explosion. Basically, reports and research now indicates that the explosion was caused by a deadly combination of mechanical misfortune and human miscalculation and poor decision-making. The Challenger liftoff was plagued with problems long before it actually was launched. Delays in both computer programming and weather forecasts forced back the liftoff for a week. During the last day of delays, a small closing repair was malfunction, so it was replaced. Additionally, a module which detects fire was found to be malfunctioning the crew fixed it as well before the shuttle finally lifted off into space, and then exploded. Officially, the investigative report pointed to a faulty O-ring seal in the solid-fuel rocket as the cause of the crash. This faulty seal combined with the very cold weather to allow hot gas to leak into the hole. Rocket flames were then able to chatter the fuel tank and catch fire causing the booster rocket to break off of the shuttle and pierce the fuel tank. The liquid hydrogen and oxygen then ignited, causing the Challenger to explode.However, this mechanical ill does not deserve all of the blame. Several human factors were uncovered in this tragedy. For years, NASAs programs had, like umpteen other agencies, been forced to cut manpower and money from its programs. Fewer men and less money meant to a greater extent work for those that did remain with fewer resources. Clearly, there was too much work and not enough manpower, resources, parts, or money to m eet all of the objectives.Yet, despite these conditions, some engineers did warn NASA officials about the fateful launch. Many engineers subdued concerns about the extremely cold temperatures and the possibility that the equipment could fail. Apparently, two NASA officials were told of these concerns well before the flight but did nothing. It seemed that the finished attitude of NASA had suffered a bit of egoism. The men who knew the truth were asked to remain silent to preserve NASAs reputation. It is exalted that one cause can be attributed to a disaster as horrible as the Challenger explosion. Here, investigators did find a mechanical failure, but soon learn that this failure had been detected. Instead, the decision-makers chose to ignore the advice of engineers in an confinement to preserve the already late launch date. Sadly, the entire tragedy had to be revisited with the 2003 explosion of the shuttle Columbia. Hopefully, the lessons learned can be applied to future decis ions in the NASA shuttle program.