Challenger crew likely SURVIVED explosion before capsule plunged to earth and crashed into Atlantic Ocean

THE Challenger crew likely SURVIVED the dramatic explosion before the space shuttle plunged to earth and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, says a shocking new book.

Author Kevin Cook says he has uncovered the "errors and corner-cutting that led an overconfident space agency to launch a crew that had no chance to escape".

Space shuttle Challenger pilot Michael J. Smith exclaimed ″Uh-oh 3/8″ at the moment the spacecraft exploded.

The alarmed pilot noticed something was amiss – possibly vapor or a fire – while the capsule was hurtling through the air at twice the speed of sound, reports the New York Post.

The right booster rocket was leaking fuel.

Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe survived the initial disaster and “were conscious, at least at first, and fully aware that something was wrong,” Mr Cook writes.

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a fatal space program crash in the United States that occurred on January 28, 1986.

A massive aerial explosion horrifically took the lives of seven crew members – five NASA astronauts, and two payload specialists.

The shuttle took off just before noon from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida.

But Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099 exploded in midair 73 seconds after takeoff, breaking apart and killing everyone.

And now Mr Cook has written about the tragedy in 'Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger'.

Pictures from the day show horrified spectators after they witnessed the explosion while spacecraft communicators were pictures looking helpless as they saw the live feed.

Among those on board was New Hampshire high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was chosen by NASA to be the first teacher in space.

Publicity information about Mr Cook's book explains that he "tells us what really happened on that ill-fated, unforgettable day.

"He traces the pressures – leading from NASA to the White House – that triggered the fatal order to launch on an ice-cold Florida morning.

"Cook takes readers inside the shuttle for the agonizing minutes after the explosion, which the astronauts did indeed survive.

"With drama, immediacy, and shocking surprises, he reveals the human price the Challenger crew and America paid for politics, capital-P Progress, and the national dream of 'reaching for the stars'."

The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the Space Shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident.

The NYP reports that "the launch seemed snakebitten from the start and was hit with multiple delays", because of rain and a hatch malfunction.

"All three network news programs featured NASA’s latest embarrassment,” writes Mr Cook.

His book echoes a NASA report, which concluded that some of the crew apparently lived long enough to turn on emergency air packs.

Pilot Michael J. Smith's exclamation of ″Uh-oh 3/8″ was heard on a tape of the shuttle’s intercom system, wrote the Associated Press.

It was the first indication that any of the seven astronauts killed may have been aware of the January 28 disaster, the worst in the history of space exploration.

The astronauts probably survived the explosion and breakup of the shuttle orbiter.

And they could have had six to 15 seconds of ″useful consciousness″ inside the crew compartment after the blast, said Dr Joseph Kerwin, an astronaut- physician who investigated the cause of death for the crew.

The force of the crew compartment hitting the ocean was so destructive, however, that the precise cause of death for the crew could not be determined, he added.

The intercom tapes, which include enthusiastic chatter among the crew about the moments after liftoff, were recovered from the wreckage of the Challenger.

They were analyzed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration and IBM engineers.

A transcript of the tape was later released by NASA.

But it offered no evidence that any crew members other than Smith knew anything was abnormal prior to his single exclamation 73 seconds after launch.

This was the very second that ground controllers lost all communication with the craft.

Previously, the last known words from the Challenger were those heard from Commander Dick Scobee to ground controllers, when he responded ″Roger, go at throttle up,″ confirming that the shuttle’s main engines had been raised to full power.

School teacher Christa McAuliffe and mission specialists Ronald McNair and Gregory B. Jarvis are not heard on the recording.

NASA said the three ″could monitor all voice activity but did not make any … comments.″

Truly said it was not unusual for there to be no comment from crew members not on the flight deck during a launch.

This was because they usually don’t say anything unless there is an emergency bit of information that the flight deck needs to be aware of.

Previously NASA had said that its reviews of the voice tape indicated that the crew was unaware of the events preceding the breakup of the orbiter.

NASA said, however, that further analysis showed that Smith’s final comment offered the first potential indication of crew awareness of the accident.

Smith’s exclamation could indicate ″there was a moment of awareness,″ said Admiral Richard H. Truly, associate administrator for space flight.

″There could have been something in the cockpit, some valve or something, that caused that remark, or it could have been awareness of the explosion,″ he added.

Four of the air packs were recovered and three had been turned on, with an analysis of gauges on two of the air packs showing three-fourths to seven- eighths of the air had been breathed, Kerwin said.

One of the air packs that had been turned on belonged to Smith, Truly said. It was not known who the other two activated air packs belonged to, and the recovered air pack that was not turned on belonged to Scobee, NASA said.

Smith and Scobee could not easily have turned on their air packs without getting out of their launch couches, Truly said.

Astronauts Judy Resnick and Ellison Onizuka were riding just behind Smith and Scobee, and they may have assisted Smith, he said.

″The most plausible explanation is that one of the two reached over and turned on Mike’s air pack,″ Truly said.

The emergency air tanks would continue to provide air to a crew member whether conscious or not, as long as the face place of the crew helmet was in place, Kerwin said.

Investigators say the accident occurred when a joint in a solid rocket booster failed and caused superheated gases to burn through the external fuel tank containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, triggering the explosion.

The crew cabin tore loose at 45,000 feet, arced upward to about 65,000 feet, and then began a 2-minute, 45-second plunge to the Atlantic Ocean, Kerwin said.

Acceleration forces at the time of the breakup were estimated at 12 to 20 Gs for about two seconds, the report said.

″Medical analysis indicates that these accelerations are survivable, and that the probability of major injury to crew members is low,″ it said.

An analysis showed that if the crew members lost consciousness due to a loss of pressure, they would not have had time to revive as the crew compartment fell into denser air at lower altitudes, Kerwin said.

The tragedy was witnessed by millions of Americans who watched on live television for the Challenger to make history.

It was the tenth flight the Space Shuttle Challenger had taken.

The victims' names were added to the Space Memorial Mirror at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.

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