Did one of Challenger's SRB's survive the explosion?

[Themohawkninja]

Go to 3:37 in the video, it looks like an SRB that is still firing. I know that they are really durable, since they hold up the entire shuttle, but did they also survive the explosion?

TOP 10 Rocket Crashes compilation

Also, on a related note: How do you embed videos?

[Pursuedtank]

I believe thay both did, This quote from wikipedia shows it.

"At T+110.250, the Range Safety Officer (RSO) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station sent radio signals that activated the range safety system's "destruct" packages on board both solid rocket boosters. This was a normal contingency procedure, undertaken because the RSO judged the free-flying SRBs a possible threat to land or sea. The same destruct signal would have destroyed the External Tank had it not already disintegrated."

[Themohawkninja]

I believe thay both did, This quote from wikipedia shows it.

"At T+110.250, the Range Safety Officer (RSO) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station sent radio signals that activated the range safety system's "destruct" packages on board both solid rocket boosters. This was a normal contingency procedure, undertaken because the RSO judged the free-flying SRBs a possible threat to land or sea. The same destruct signal would have destroyed the External Tank had it not already disintegrated."

I thought the other SRB exploded when the O-ring failed, and that's how the whole disaster happened? I need to re-read that article.

EDIT: "Disintegration of the entire vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRBs aft attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter."

Well, I got the O-ring part right. Those SRB's are nearly invincible.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Challenger didn't explode so much as it was ripped apart by wind when it flipped sideways at Mach 2. The more robust SRB's both kept firing and seperated from the rest of the stack, they then self-destructed on command from the range saftey officer.

I thought the other SRB exploded when the O-ring failed, and that's how the whole disaster happened? I need to re-read that article.

It didn't explode, but when the O-ring failed a jet of superhot gas burned into the external tank.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Fuzzy Dunlop

[Qerbal]

The two SRBs, which could withstand greater aerodynamic loads, separated from the ET and continued in uncontrolled powered flight. The SRB casings were made of half-inch (12.7 mm) thick steel and were much stronger than the orbiter and ET; thus, both SRBs survived the breakup of the space shuttle stack, even though the right SRB was still suffering the effects of the joint burn-through that had set the destruction of Challenger in motion.

Thats why I find solid engines much safer than liquid. They don't blow up like fragile cryogenic tanks.

[Pursuedtank]

I thought the other SRB exploded when the O-ring failed, and that's how the whole disaster happened? I need to re-read that article.

The O ring seal broke but the bulk of that SRB survived, and as Fuzzy Dunlop said, the Shuttle didn't explode, but was pushed into an abnormal angle that then caused extreme G's from the wind which broke it apart.

[WestAir]

I hear the crew survived the orbiters descent, and only died when it impacted the sea.

[Themohawkninja]

I hear the crew survived the orbiters descent, and only died when it impacted the sea.

That's what the article seems to imply, as it did survive the explosion. I have yet to read what kind of damage was done to the orbiter in the explosion though.

The more I read this article, the more it seems that the O-ring wasn't really the problem. O-rings have apparently failed on other missions, but due to a process called extrusion, the O-ring seals the leak, however due to the heaviest wind gust ever recorded for shuttle launches, the O-ring failed to seal the leak, and caused more hot gas to damage the tank, and eventually causing the explosion.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

The O-rings were never designed to fail, and suriving a failure just because a load of ash built up in the hole is a lucky fluke that could never have been predicted and should never have been relied upon.

Basically as soon as NASA realised that a saftey critical component was failing they should have grounded the shuttle until they solved the problem. Instead they decided that, since the failures hadn't actually killed anyone yet, they were in fact safe.

[DerekL1963]

I hear the crew survived the orbiters descent, and only died when it impacted the sea.

They likely did survive the breakup, but it's also likely they we unconscious very shortly thereafter and quite likely all the way to impact - the cabin vented to ambient on breakup, and there is insufficient O2 partial pressure at that altitude. They spent around a minute (from breakup to peak altitude to back down again) in those conditions. In the end, NASA judged that it was impossible to determine conclusively if and when they lost consciousness and exactly when death occurred. Google up the Kerwin Report for details.

A few years later I was attended [a Navy] training course with a Navy diver who worked on the recovery effort. He didn't talk about it much, but some of things he alluded to always made me think he helped recover the crew compartment... and looking back now with things I know now but didn't then, I suspect he had some pretty serious PTSD issues.

[PakledHostage]

The final breakup sequence started when the right SRB broke free at its lower attach fitting. From the Roger's Commission report:

Beginning at about 72 seconds, a series of events occurred extremely

rapidly that terminated the flight. Telemetered data indicate a wide

variety of flight system actions that support the visual evidence of

the photos as the Shuttle struggled futilely against the forces that

were destroying it.

At about 72.20 seconds the lower strut linking the Solid Rocket

Booster and the External Tank was severed or pulled away from the

weakened hydrogen tank permitting the right Solid Rocket Booster to

rotate around the upper attachment strut. This rotation is indicated

by divergent yaw and pitch rates between the left and right Solid

Rocket Boosters.

At 73.124 seconds,. a circumferential white vapor pattern was

observed blooming from the side of the External Tank bottom dome.

This was the beginning of the structural failure of hydrogen tank that

culminated in the entire aft dome dropping away. This released

massive amounts of liquid hydrogen from the tank and created a sudden

forward thrust of about 2.8 million pounds, pushing the hydrogen tank

upward into the intertank structure. At about the same time, the

rotating right Solid Rocket Booster impacted the intertank structure

and the lower part of the liquid oxygen tank. These structures failed

at 73.137 seconds as evidenced by the white vapors appearing in the

intertank region.

Within milliseconds there was massive, almost explosive, burning of

the hydrogen streaming from the failed tank bottom and liquid oxygen

breach in the area of the intertank.

At this point in its trajectory, while traveling at a Mach number of

1.92 at an altitude of 46,000 feet, the Challenger was totally

enveloped in the explosive burn. The Challenger's reaction control

system ruptured and a hypergolic burn of its propellants occurred as

it exited the oxygen-hydrogen flames. The reddish brown colors of the

hypergolic fuel burn are visible on the edge of the main fireball.

The Orbiter, under severe aerodynamic loads, broke into several large

sections which emerged from the fireball. Separate sections that can

be identified on film include the main engine/tail section with the

engines still burning, one wing of the Orbiter, and the forward

fuselage trailing a mass of umbilical lines pulled loose from the

payload bay.

Edited July 19, 2013 by PakledHostage

[DragonRoco]

I think both of the SRBs kept on going. You can see in this photo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_1986_challenger_disaster/html/1.stm