The Challenger Disaster Page #3

about what happened to Challenger,

speculation about the cause of the accident continues to grow.

Recent theories include everything from a computer programming error

to unusually strong winds.

Chairman Rogers...

The boats just pulled in the crew compartment.

Can you tell me, was the oxygen activated?

Yes, Dr Ride.

It was.

We...

maybe won't make that public straight away.

Excuse me.

Dr Feynman.

It's very important that this team stays together all the time.

Why?

It's been reported to me that you spent some time at Marshall.

Alone.

That's not very helpful.

Oh, Mr Rogers, I don't find it helpful to stand around.

The other commissioners are just being respectful.

And you're saying I'm not?

You understand the implications of the oxygen being activated?

I do.

The astronauts had to do that themselves.

Which means that they were alive

for at least some of those two minutes and 36 seconds

before they slammed into the ocean.

Mr Rogers, I'm an atheist.

I personally doubt that they're touching the face of God,

so I prefer to show my respect

by finding the cause of their appalling deaths

and not stand around looking sad.

You know, I didn't even want to be on this commission

but now that I'm on it,

I've got every intention of finding out what went wrong.

You know, I don't know that NASA did an excellent job.

The group will be leaving in 30 minutes.

Except for General Kutyna, who's made his own arrangements.

I also may have my own arrangements.

I can't force you to go.

Nope.

Are you going to work all night?

Er... if necessary. I don't know.

How do you plan to get back to Washington?

Er... I got myself in kind of a pickle.

I want to go back to Marshall.

Guess I'll hire a car, but it's hundreds of miles.

I can give you a lift. I'll drop you in Alabama.

Oh.

Thank you.

Here. 0600?

OK.

I may not get a limo,

but occasionally I get the use of a government jet.

No..! You imagined I was going to drive you 400 miles?

This is tremendous.

New for you?

You serious? No!

Whoa-ho-ho-ho!

Oh!

It's OK.

You know, what you have to realise

is that you are uniquely independent.

Yeah, how's that?

Well...

everyone on the commission has strong associations.

To whom? Well, to NASA - Armstrong, Ride...

The government - Keel - Rogers was Secretary of State.

And Bill Graham's even a personal friend of President Reagan's.

And you?

Me, the Air Force.

How does the Air Force... Air Force three niner two six five.

Low on four three zero.

Heading three two zero.

Two six five.

How does the Air Force... You're the only independent.

I'm independent.

I'm invincible.

Yeah...

but check six.

What check six? That's, um...

That's a fighter pilot's expression.

Six o'clock.

The blind spot. Directly behind you.

Uh-huh.

Watch my ass.

OK, watch your ass here.

What? It's a little steep.

That's what we call the diamond.

Wow, now that is very beautiful.

What the hell?

You happy with that, with that vibration?

Don't worry, it steadies again after 65%.

But to get to 65%, you gotta go through that?

Sometimes, yeah.

Can I see components, the blades?

Oh, what is that?

It's a crack... in this blade.

There's an obvious crack.

Yeah.

The blades often get those after a flight,

but that's not a flight safety problem.

Well, what is it, then? We were told to log it as a maintenance problem.

Only if it develops into a full fracture, THAT would be a failure.

So a failure only happens if it actually shears off?

Uh-huh.

Bull! The failure is the crack.

Well, you could argue that...

The failure is the crack - I mean, because it's not in the design.

You know and I know it's not supposed to crack.

Who has the rest of the test data?

Is that it?

I think we should start this discussion on the step-by-step process, so...

Concentrate the investigation on the main engines.

There are cracked turbine blades.

As early as 1,375 seconds, equivalent to full power level.

Also, at 4,000 hertz, there are some nasty vibrations.

So you think the cause lies within the engines?

I'd bet my last dime on it. I just got back from Marshall.

I just heard an interesting new definition of the word "failure".

Well, it's interesting that you should say that, Doctor.

We've just received the telemetry data from NASA,

and the sensors on the engines

show that they performed absolutely perfectly.

Get out of here!

The engines began to shut down as fuel pressure decreased,

exactly as designed.

That's extremely lucky, because I'm telling you, those engines have profound problems.

Now there is a step-by-step process for us all to follow,

and I respectfully request that from now on...

you abide by it.

We're all trying to find the answer.

All right, we begin.

Step by step.

Crap.

Prof...

Don't let the chairman put you off.

Look, you should come by the house some night for a bite, if that appeals.

Yeah? OK, good. Excuse me for a second.

Listen...

Graham, why didn't I know that we had the results from the sensors on the engines?

Is NASA drip-feeding us information to suit itself?

I hear you. I'm doing this with one hand tied behind my back.

I hear you, but..

Richard...?

You OK?

I'll see you tomorrow.

I goofed. I thought I had the answer. I was way off.

So what are you going to do? Are you going to stick with it?

I don't know.

Listen, there's a knock on the door. I'll call you later. 'All right. '

I'm not sure why they chose to just lay them in this order.

It's difficult to tell,

but this is... this is half that...

Chairman Rogers...

NASA's Failure Analysis team supplied a still from camera E207,

trained on-flight.

It looks like it took a long time for this photograph to appear.

Well, it's here now. What is that?

A flame?

Coming from a position on the side of the solid rocket booster?

Did we know that? Did we know that already?

Did we get stills from other angles? Am I right?

They had cameras all around? Yeah. Yes.

Some of the cameras that were looking directly at the area

were not working on the day, I'm told.

Well, that's unfortunate. Hm.

May I have that, please? Of course.

Am I super-late? I had to pick this up at the lab.

No, no, it's not a problem. Nice car.

You like it? Like it? I LOVE it.

I don't know if that enlargement's going to tell us anything.

Let's see.

Well, it's somewhat clearer, no? No, that just makes the whole thing wider open.

But the flamer is sharper. But that flame, where is it originating?

Perhaps what we're seeing is the tip of a larger flame

on the other side where there's no damned camera.

A flame is not a cause. A flame is an effect, it's a symptom.

That doesn't tell us which component split,

sheared off, cracked. It shows us nothing.

It takes us nowhere.

I want to show you something.

Multiple successful launches, identical components

and launch locations, so what made that day special?

What were the variables?

Take a break, Prof.

Oh!

You lucky fella!

Yeah, I'd be luckier if I could get it running. It's out of commission.

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