On January 28, 1986, perhaps the worst disaster in NASA history occurred. With all the other tragedies - of "Apollo 1", of "Soyuz 1", "Soyuz 11", "Columbia" and "SpaceShipTwo", there were no millions of viewers to watch the tragedy in real time, the "Cosmos" website recalls.
In general, the general public is apathetic towards astronautics, unless something extraordinary happens, and in most cases people do not follow the development of space flights in real time with bated breath.
But with "Challenger" it is different.
In August 1984, US President Ronald Reagan announced NASA's "Teacher in Space" program. The idea of the program is very good - during the space shuttle flights, teachers - ordinary citizens - will sometimes fly, who will later return to their classrooms and tell about their adventure to children, inspiring them to engage in science and technology in the future. Teacher Christa McAuliffe was chosen as the first US citizen to fly into space without being officially connected to NASA's manned program.
It is for this reason that public attention is riveted to the launch pad on that fateful day. Christa McAuliffe is perceived by society not just as the first citizen astronaut, but as a representative of everyone who dreams of one day flying into space, without necessarily being tied to a state space agency. The space shuttle was supposed to open the way to space for every person. Christa's mother, Grace Corrigan, for many years after her daughter's death, claimed that until the Challenger accident, space shuttles were believed to be very safe - safer even than passenger planes, thanks to the measures taken by NASA.
The Challenger disaster shattered all illusions forever.
From that moment on, spaceflight was never described with the words "safe" and "routine". The science fiction dream that ordinary people would soon be flying in space died in a cloud of ash and dust. Although after the Challenger accident, the remaining space shuttles performed some tasks wonderfully - the launch and repairs of the Hubble telescope, the launch of the Galileo robotic stations to Jupiter and the Magellan to Venus, the servicing of the Mir orbital station, the successful construction of the International Space Station in the period 2000-2011, which is the largest building ever built in orbit, no ordinary citizen ever flew a shuttle until the end of their operation. Even today, when the shuttles are retired and private individuals have taken the initiative, sometimes again aha! it seems that we are on the verge of routine political flights... until another fatal accident occurs - like the one with SpaceShipTwo. in 2014, which killed Michael Alsbury.
But let's go back to the day of the tragedy.
When "Challenger" took off on January 28 with Commander Francis Scobie, Pilot Michael Smith, Civilian Christa McAuliffe, and Specialist Astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair, and Gregory Jarvis, there was no sign that an accident was imminent. At that time, NASA's spokesperson to millions of people was reporter Steve Nesbitt.
"It was a very cold day, and people definitely noticed the ice on the launch pad," Nesbitt would later recall. "There was no discussion in the control room about the O-rings, which were later determined to be the cause of the accident".
For years before the Challenger shuttle disaster, it was known that there were certain risks in the operation of solid-fuel boosters at low temperatures, that structural damage to the O-rings could occur. But despite the risks, the possible occurrence of an accident was ignored - the chances of a crash in theory are low, the shuttles have flown without problems before. The same attitude in 2003 led to the Columbia shuttle disaster. Although the technical cause of the Columbia accident is different, the neglect remains the same - it has been known for years that during launches, debris sometimes falls, damaging the shuttles' plates. At one point, the fatal thing happens.
Immediately after the launch of the shuttle "Challenger",
nothing gives any indication that an accident is imminent.
Everything seems normal until the 73rd second, when the engines start working at full thrust. At that moment, viewers around the world witness the catastrophic explosion! But commentator Nesbitt, who is at that time in the command building through windows, does not notice this immediately, because he is staring at his own screen, from which he must first read data about the height and location of the shuttle. "Altitude nine nautical miles, distance from launch pad range seven nautical miles", he continues to read, still unaware that the accident has occurred. There is another screen next to him with a live video feed, but Nesbitt still does not notice it.
A few seconds later, the commentator is interrupted by the exclamation of a colleague - "What was that?" Nesbitt is just now tearing his eyes away from the screen with the numbers and staring at the one next to it, with the video broadcast. Horrified, he sees a ball of smoke and says to himself - "Something is wrong".
But he has to give an explanation to the people. However, he cannot think of anything to say right away, it takes a full 15 seconds before he announces anything publicly. None of his colleagues in the control center says out loud that the ship has broken up. In general, everyone is so surprised that no one says anything!
But Nesbitt is a commentator. He has to say something to the people despite the lack of information. His next words will forever be remembered in the history of astronautics.
"The flight controllers are monitoring the situation very carefully.
It is obvious that there is a major malfunction".
Now Nesbitt watches with the others on the screen as the two solid-fuel boosters fly around the cloud of dust uncontrollably. There is no sign of the shuttle "Challenger". He immediately thinks that the people are dead, but he cannot announce it yet. What if it is not so? What if by some miracle they survived? He cannot afford to say something unconfirmed.
Another 39 seconds pass before Nesbitt dares to tell the audience: "We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the shuttle exploded". Thanks to his good journalistic training, Steve Nesbitt manages to maintain a calm and unemotional tone. Years later, Nesbitt rises to the position of communications manager at NASA Johnson Center. It was not retired until 2010.
The space shuttles are still returning to service, albeit two years after the Challenger disaster. By the end of their service in 2011, all regular observers of spaceflight instinctively feared each launch. Even astronauts who have flown on a shuttle describe the first 73 seconds of their flight as a psychological barrier.
Now, after we have gone through another shuttle tragedy - that of the "Columbia" in 2003, these machines are already retired. We are now in a new era - the era of private spaceflight. There are new American carriers that launch ships to the "International Space Station" - for now in cargo mode, and soon - in manned mode. But while private carriers seem to be making space more accessible, we still shouldn't forget that it's hostile territory for humanity. So hostile that it will be a long time before the technology is reliable enough to call spaceflight routine.