Secret NASA tape: The Challenger disaster Cover-up.

This is a recap for those who haven't heard the Challenger Transcript. The Astronauts weren't provided adequate safety equipment to survive. Did (or does) NASA care? Americans are Guinea pigs and expendable you see? To realise that Great American Dream!

Now read on..and re-live the horror of those 2 minutes and 58 seconds that the crew went through.

I'm not being gross, but to impress upon the need for adequate safety measures that must be put in place. The hurry to 'conquer' the Moon before the then Soviet Union, resulted in giving short shrift to flight safety. The Soviets had to be beaten, whatever the cost.

A secret NASA tape reveals that the crew of the shuttle
Challenger not only survived the explosion that ripped the vessel
apart; they screamed, cried, cursed and prayed for three hellish
minutes before they slammed into the Atlantic and perished on
January 28, 1986.

The tape is said to begin with a startled crewman screaming,"What
happened? What happened? Oh God - No!" Screams and curses are
heard- several crewmen begin to weep- and then others bid their
families farewell.

Two minutes forty-five seconds later the tape ends. That's when
the shuttle's crew compartment, which remained intact after the
vessel exploded over the Atlantic, hit the ocean at over 2,000
miles per hour, instantly killing the crew.

"Cover up? Of course there was a coverup," declared Robert
Hotz, a member of the Presidential commission that investigated
the disaster. "NASA can't face the fact that they put these
astronauts in a situation where they didn't have adequate
equipment to survive. NASA doesn't give a damn about anything but
covering it's ass, " he said.

Courtesy Michael Spitzer

Here..





[edit on 25-9-2006 by mikesingh]

Can't remember which newspapers they were in, but i've read a few reports that have stated that the crew were alive until the crew compartment hit the water, and it was the impact that probably killed them?

Personally, I really don't see this as a cover-up. Were my sons on that doomed mission, I doubt I would be appreciative that the tape was widely broadcast. For that reason, there is no way I'm going to listen to their despair.

I think NASA held back on this out of respect to the families and friends of the crew.



I do agree, though, that certain safety measures could have been installed into the shuttles which could have saved their lives.

Build it faster and cheaper and get it into space regardless. Sure space travel is inheritly dangerous, but shouldn't it have been a consideration to have the crew compartment ejectable, similar to the f-11?

Originally posted by MrMicrophone
Build it faster and cheaper and get it into space regardless. Sure space travel is inheritly dangerous, but shouldn't it have been a consideration to have the crew compartment ejectable, similar to the f-11?

it was initially considered, but later taken out of the plans due to cost restrictions:

Anatomy of a Space Shuttle
The designers replaced the piloted booster with two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to either side of the expendable fuel tank and moved the orbiter to the top of the tank, in place of a piloted rocket plane. To reduce the very high cost, air breathing engines (for landing) and a crew ejection system were removed.

I think that the prospect of space travel will always be inherrently dangerous, at least in our current generation.

If you think about it, the practicality of crew escape system is very small. Think about it. They are sitting atop a vehicle filled with thousands and thousands of pounds of solid rocket booster fuel and liquid oxygen. Any major malfunction of this system, as with Challenger, would result in the total destruction of the orbiter.

If some other major malfunction occurs, the window for a survivable escape is very small. If the malfunction occurs too low, then the orbiter has not enough time to maneuver to a position to facilitate bail-out. Ditching the orbiter is generally agreed to be a very low survivable event.

If the orbiter is very high, the velocities and distances come into play, again making a bail out very unlikely. Bail out seems only practical in the time period of roughly as early as 20-30 seconds after lift-off, and say no more than 90-120 seconds after lift off. In this window, IF you managed to survive separation from the SRBs and main tank, and you have a controlable orbiter that can be leveled out, then the possibilty of a bail-out scenario could be attempted (again, a low survivable event).

The sad truth is that the designers looked long and hard at the cost vs benefit of a crew escape system, and in order to be able to make the vehicle in the time/money allotted to the program, allowances for safety were not incorporated as part of the design. As designed and built, the Shuttle is a very dangerous bird, and really should never be used for anything other than national-level missions. Its a grim reality that if we as a race desire to conquor space, sacrifices will have to be made. Americans and Russians understand this, which is why we honor our fallen Astronauts and Cosmonauts so much.

That being said, the surpression of in-cockpit audio tapes of the last Challenger mission should not be characterized as anything other than protecting the feelings and sensitivities of the immediate surviving family members. If there were anything technical in nature that could contribute to determining the cause of the disaster in those tapes, I'm sure we would have heard of it immediately. The cries of anguish of the doomed crew is a sound I would hope no one would ever want to hear, if given the choice.

Those who follow aerospace topics became aware that [most] of the crew were probably concious and aware during the descent to the ocean. It was revealed very early in the investigation that this was surmised due to the fact that some astronauts in the rear seats had apparently assisted front-seaters (who may have been incapacitated) with oxygen/survival gear.

And, I don't think that anyone is in a "hurry" to beat the Russians to the Moon, especially since they haven't even been there yet and can barely afford what they have in orbit.

What "adequate safety equipment" would have helped them survive this explosion the 65,000 ft fall and the impact into the ocean which had to cause about 200 G's of pressure?

An ejection capsule, three or four large attached parachutes, and floatation devices would of been a starter, as if they had been able to eject, and then ride down into the ocean they would of lived -

Cheap and dangerous wins over moderate expense and safer - I say safer because riding a giant rocket will never be 100% safe!

Their is no tape. This is a pretty old urban legend that was started by a Weekly World News article(bat-boy is still on the loose as well).

There is a fairly good explanation at Snopes.com



Click here to see the article

People,

These victims (with the exception of Ms. McCauliff) were ASTRONAUTS. They were all VOLUNTEERS, they all knew everything, including the safety deficiencies, there was to know about the vehicle. How many thousands of business and holiday travelers have died the same horrible death on commercial airlines? Where is the outrage at the air travel industry and the sympathy for those people?

This was not covered up. There was no conspiracy. NASA has gaurded the tapes out of the proper respect for the famlies. It was reported only days after the disaster that the crew survived until impact. Besides the voice recordings, they had medical telemetry as well.

This seems like just another run of the mill "bash the US govt" thread.

I hate too sound crazy and go against the grain of this thread but I believe that the Soviets used scalar electromagnetic technology/weapons to take down the Challenger and strike down Columbia. I don't know how many other people believe this or put trust in the offical story.

here's the sadly real transcript of the Challenger's final moments.

As stated before, the pilot famous last words were "uhoh."

Here.

I'm quite intrested in that transcript. The entire event seemed by-the-book until the few last seconds before contact was lost to the vessel. I wonder what made the officer say "Uh Oh" which meant somehing occured that could have been detected within the vessel. Did his instuments act erraticly? Did he feel the shake as the boosters blew up from below him?

For some more info check out this list of Space Shuttle Abort Modes.
Also check out towards the bottom of that article there is a brief piece on the idea of ejection seats/pods for the shuttle. With a few explanations why they are not used.

Basically, too hard, only useful for a small amount of time, and too expensive in space/weight and refit. Quite simply, being an astronaut is a dangerous job. The men and women who take on these missions are more aware than the rest of us of the danger, but are brave enough to accept that and get on with the job.

Also, and I know this is being picky but it seems a fairly major oversight..

Originally posted by mikesingh
I'm not being gross, but to impress upon the need for adequate safety measures that must be put in place. The hurry to 'conquer' the Moon before the then Soviet Union, resulted in giving short shrift to flight safety. The Soviets had to be beaten, whatever the cost.

Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, a long time before Challenger or any Shuttles existed. Nor were the Shuttles designed for (or even capable of) Lunar missions.

Listen to this

Adair

Poor sods ...

It disgust me that NASA can be so cold to brave people.

How can people be this stupid?

I am continually amazed with what some people will believe out there. Unbelieveable.

I felt great sadness for those who died in our space program. Because I've been alive the entire time man has been in space, I've known of all the deaths as the public were told about them.

As has been said, space travel is dangerous. As in any endeavor by man, there will be deaths associated with it. It is the price we pay for our reaching nature.

In days past, many a doomed sailor went to a watery grave while crossing oceans, many a settler lies buried beside the trail. Our tears should not be for their dying, for all men die. Our tears should be for the their bravery, for lives of daring and courage cut short by fate and circumstance.

Always, in hindsight, we feel that more could have/should have been done to protect these brave souls. But truth be told, man lives and dies, and it is only his accomplishments in between that matter at all.

I have to agree with those posting that it isn't practical, even if possible, to have had a solution to save the astronauts on that day. The design isn't really as much the fault as the decision to launch the craft that day. People knew there was a greater than usual chance of problems. They were proved correct.

It seems like there's a conspiracy in almost everything we humans do anymore. Risk is a component of nature and human life. I dearly miss the astronauts of the Challenger and wish their families well. But risk is a big factor when strapping on to huge rockets and shooting towards space. I to feel that there was nothing that could of saved them from what happened that dreadful day. I just wish we could come up with something better than rockets to lift off the ground. The Challenger Crew were heroe's and braves ones at that.

The Challenger audio tape is a fake and that has been known for some time. I would have figured just a little bit of thought would have revealed the myriad impossibilities of such a tape even existing...but apparently I figured wrong.