The O Ring Challenger

An investigation found some workers had warned nasa about the danger of launching challenger because the o rings grew brittle in cold weather.

The o ring challenger.

The crew members cabin remained in tact but fell to the atlantic ocean at approximately 200 miles per hour. Nasa s own pre launch estimates were that there was a 1 in 100 000 chance of shuttle failure for any given launch and poor statistical reasoning was a key. Morton thiokol discovered that both o rings booster sealers had malfunctioned which led to the fuel tank blowing up. The final crew of the space shuttle challenger via wikipedia.

The o ring was known to be sensitive to cold and could only work. The cause of the disaster was traced to an o ring a circular gasket that sealed the right rocket booster. In challenger s case the o ring got so cold it hadn t expanded properly and allowed the leak. The challenger itself didn t technically explode but rather disintegrated from the result of the o ring malfunction.

This had failed due to the low temperature 31 f 0 5 c at launch time a risk that several engineers noted but that nasa management dismissed. But nasa was under pressure to keep to its ambitious flight schedule and the risk was deemed acceptable. The failure of the o rings was attributed to a faulty design whose performance could be too easily compromised by factors including the low ambient temperature on the day of launch.