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NASA's Documentary About the Challenger Disaster

This 30 minute documentary by NASA chronicles the history of Space Shuttle Challenger, and explains why it exploded some 70 seconds after lift off. It illustrates just how amazingly meticulous NASA's documentation and analysis is, at least after the...

This 30 minute documentary by NASA chronicles the history of Space Shuttle Challenger, and explains why it exploded some 70 seconds after lift off. It illustrates just how amazingly meticulous NASA's documentation and analysis is, at least after the fact. It's also an interesting explanation of each component of a launch of the space shuttle, one of the most complicated machines ever built.

NASA documnetary detailing the events surrounding the loss of OV-099, Space Shuttle Challenger, shortly after the launch of the 25th flight of the Space Transportation System, Mission STS-51L, on 28 January, 1986, and the subsequent investigation into the loss of the vehicle and its crew of seven. The investigation shows that the Solid Rocket Booster field joints were of an insufficiently fault-tolerant design and when the vehicle was launched at below-normal temperatures, hot exhaust gasses leaked on ignition, damaging the integrity of the field joint, leading to a breach in the external tank and destruction of the orbiter.

The documentary starts at 15 minutes; prior to that is footage of the launch.

archive.org