Challenger+Disaster

The Challenger disaster was an space shuttle explosion on January 28 1986. The shuttle disinetgrated 73 seconds after launch. The shuttle disintegrated when an O-ring in the right solid rocket booster failed to liftoff. The explosion killed all seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, The women who was set to become the first civilian in space after she won the Teacher in Space program.

Investigation of the accident showed that three of the astronauts Personal Egress Air Packs(PEAP's) were activated. This is the only evidence that at least two Astronauts( Ellison Onizuka and Judith Resnik ) were alive after the cockpit seperated from the vehicle. Pilot Michael J Smith was the other astronaut that had his PEAP activated, but due to the location of the on switch for his PEAP (on the back of his seat) Onizuka or Resnik could have activated it for him. Even with the PEAP's activated, Onizuka and Resnik would have never survived the two minute desent back to Earth

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