Critical analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical analysis - Essay Example The O- ring seal let gases emanating from the so rocket booster. These gases lay on the propellant tank which is outside and also the booster strut. This took place in January 28 1986. The remains of the shuttle fell into the Atlantic Ocean just off Florida’s cost. The compartment where the crew was together with fragment of the space shuttle was only recovered after a long search of the ocean was conducted. When exactly the crew passed away is unknown but it is believed that a number survived when the space craft initially broke up. The only problem for those who survived was the fact that the shuttle lacked a means of escape .It is for this reason that they were captive in the space shuttle as it impacted with the ocean surface .This was too violent for any of them to survive. The shuttle space program was halted for 32 months due to the disaster. The Rogers commission was formed by the then president Ronald Regan. The commission laid blame on NASA’S decision making s ystem and and its organizational culture for the disaster. NASA was aware that the design of the Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SBRs) by Morton Thiokol had a lethal defect in the O-rings .This hadn’t been addressed since 1977.They also failed to head to warnings from engineers concerning the launch in the prevailing low temperature that fateful morning. These technical concerns weren’t shared with the superiors. It is interesting to note the vehicle never received certification to run in the low temperatures of that morning The O- ring together with other key components hadn’t been tested to ensure that they would operate in the launch conditions of that morning. The launch had many viewers since it had Christa McAuliffe .She was to be the first teacher, female, in space .So hyped was the launch that just an hour after the Disaster 85% of Americans had gotten wind of the news .It is worth noting that the challengers disaster was a reference point when it comes t o issues of engineering safety and ethics in the work place. The concerns about the O-Ring A look at the space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters Design (SRBS) will help us understand where the flaw lay. To begin with this unit makes part of the vehicle for space transportation system. It is made up of six sections connected in 3 factory and field joints. Factory joints had an insulation made up of asbestos-silica .This was applied at the joints to cover them. The field joints were assembled at the Kennedy space centre in the building used for vehicle Assembly .The field joints relied on two O-rings made of rubber .There was a primary one and a secondary one which acted as a backup. After the disaster, field joints adopted a 3 O-ring system. All the SRB joint seals were to contain high pressure gasses resultant from the combustion of the solid propellant that lay within. All the propellant is supposed to emanate from the nozzle at the end of the rocket. At the time of the shuttle design, a Mc Donnell Douglass report highlighted the record of solid rockets when it came to safety .It was safe to abort in most failure types. There was one though in which aborting would have been dangerous. Hot gasses would burn through the forced casing. If the burn through was to take place next the liquid hydrogen/oxygen tank, aborting a launch