Why did the Challenger explode?

Link to this answer

CloseClose

Link to this answer

Share this credible answer with others. Simply paste this code into your blog or Web page:

<a href="http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/why-did-challenger-explode-145659.html" >Why did the Challenger explode?</a>
E-mail this answer Link to this answer

The disaster was caused by the faulty design of a gasket (the O-ring seal). As dramatically demonstrated by Richard Feynman , a member of the presidential commission appointed to investigate the accident, the elastic O-ring did not respond as expected because of the cold temperature (30°F/-1°C) at launch time. ( ...

Answer verified with
Get more facts and information about Challenger . Or, view the full encyclopedia entry from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.

Similar questions: What malfunction caused the Challenger to explode? Did faulty design cause the Challenger explosion? What caused the Challenger explosion? [ Hide these questions ]

Related research articles

TV TELLS US WHEN THINGS HAPPEN, BUT NOT WHY Newspaper article from: Post-Tribune (IN) ...of the streets of Dallas, the Challenger's launching pad or the scene...enough to get it at all - is the why. Why did Laurie Dann open fire in a classroom full of little children? Why did Challenger explode in a billow of flames? Why did...
So far, Romney stand on issues unclear Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe ...Weld's bloodlines did not trace back to...only to watch Challenger explode just after liftoff...hard to figure. Nor did Romney seem to know...on the issues or why he would be better...from Kennedy and why his approach is better...
Of ethic proportions: how to develop your most important business asset.(Ethics) Magazine article from: Doors and Hardware ...other. If they do, ask yourself why. When you live a life of authenticity...when we watched the space shuttle Challenger explode into a fireball in 1986, the U...Thiokol (the o-ring manufacturer) did not want to be the "party pooper...
Yesterday, 40 years ago; We didn't know how Beatles mirrored life.(VARIETY)(Kim... Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) ...that JFK had been shot, seeing the Challenger explode and watching the World Trade Center...open the possibility that we really did give peace a chance, if only for...which probably has a lot to do with why we've continued to love them...
Why the future still belongs to the brave. Newspaper article from: The Daily Mail (London, England) ...home; this time she did not make it. It is...attempt. 1986 saw the Challenger space shuttle explode shortly after lift...Reagan confronted the Challenger disaster. That night...the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers...
See all results at HighBeam

HighBeam gives you access to newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles plus press releases, facts, information, and biographies from thousands of sources.