O Ring Seal Challenger

A crucial factor was cold weather prior to the launch.

O ring seal challenger.

The o rings were never tested in extreme cold. Worries of potential o ring failure in the near freezing weather conditions predicted for the following morning as expressed by roger boisjoly and others were downplayed and thiokol collectively voted that challenger was fit to fly unwittingly signing the death warrants of the seven member 51l crew. Field joints containing rubber o ring seals were installed between each fuel segment. Commander dick scobee pilot mike smith.

Months after the disaster the cause was revealed. The primary o ring of the left nozzle had been eroded so extensively that it had failed to seal and for the first time hot gases had eroded the secondary o ring. The challenger itself didn t technically explode but rather disintegrated from the result of the o ring malfunction. On the morning of the launch the cold rubber became stiff.

Number of o ring incidents vs. Perhaps most concerning was the launch of sts 51 b in april 1985 flown by challenger in which the worst o ring damage to date was discovered in post flight analysis. Report of the presidential commission on the space shuttle challenger accident 6 june 1986 volume 1 page 145 link color added. Challenger was destroyed due to a faulty o ring seal in one of its booster rockets allowing burning gas to escape.

Morton thiokol discovered that both o rings booster sealers had malfunctioned which led to the fuel tank blowing up. Making challenger made watching the spacex launch earlier this year a. Strong wind shear that began 37 seconds into flight then tore the seal back open resulting in the catastrophic breakup. The rubber o rings of which there were a primary and secondary between each rocket segment weren t supposed to be burned by the gases resulting from liftoff but that s exactly what happened during the testing phase.

The following months were anything but easy for mcdonald. This was famously demonstrated on television by caltech physics professor richard feynman when he placed a small o ring into ice cold water and subsequently showed its loss of flexibility before an investigative. An o ring seal had failed at launch but the hole was quickly resealed by aluminum oxides before any flames could escape and cause an explosion. The failure of an o ring seal was determined to be the cause of the space shuttle challenger disaster on january 28 1986.