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L E R N E R P U B L I C AT I O N S C O M PA N Y
M I N N E A P O L I S
1
To David Woods
Text copyright © 2008 by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
Lerner Publications Company
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.
Website address: www.lernerbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woods, Michael, 1946–
Space Disasters / by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods.
p. cm. — (Disasters up close)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–8225–6775–2 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
1. Astronautics—Accidents—Juvenile literature. I. Woods, Mary B. (Mary Boyle), 1946 II. Title.
TL867.W66135 2008
363.12'42—dc22
2007030529
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 – DP – 13 12 11 10 09 08
eISBN-13: 978-0-7613-3997-9
Contents
INTRODUCTION
4
What Are Space Disasters?
6
What Causes
Space Disasters
14
Danger Zones:
Air and Space
22
Measuring a Menace
28
Recovery
38
The Future
48
TIMELINE
54
GLOSSARY
56
PLACES TO VISIT
57
SOURCE NOTES
58
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
60
FURTHER RESOURCES
61
INDEX
63
ON THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 1, 2003, SEVEN ASTRONAUTS WERE
RETURNING TO EARTH AFTER A LONG TRIP. THE MEN AND WOMEN HAD
BEEN IN SPACE FOR SIXTEEN DAYS. THEY HAD TRAVELED 6.6 MILLION
MILES (10.6 MILLION KILOMETERS) ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA.
THE ASTRONAUTS’ FAMILIES WERE WAITING FOR COLUMBIA TO LAND AT
THE JOHN F. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER IN FLORIDA. MILLIONS OF OTHER
PEOPLE WERE WATCHING ON TELEVISION.
Columbia was flying at 12,500 miles (about 20,112 km) per hour. It was 39 miles (63 km) above Texas. As Columbia neared Earth, the air that surrounds our planet rubbed against the craft causing friction. As Columbia got closer and closer to Earth, the rubbing increased. It made the outside of the shuttle heat up. It glowed red hot, like charcoal in a barbecue grill.
Different kinds of insulation, or heat-proofing material, protect space shuttles. Some of the insulation is made of foam. Other insulation is made of heat-resistant tiles. Unknown to mission Pieces of the space shuttle
controllers and the shuttle crew, a small piece of insulating
Columbia streak across the
foam had broken off Columbia’s fuel tank during launch. The sky after the shuttle breaks
material had damaged the insulating tiles on the shuttle’s left apart over Texas on
wing. As the shuttle heated up before landing, hot air
}February 1, 2003.
poured into the left wing. Parts of the shuttle
began to melt.
On the ground, mission controllers tracked
the shuttle using radio signals and computers.
They saw that one of the shuttle’s tires had
gone flat. About the same time, Columbia
commander Rick Husband sent a radio
message to mission control. But controllers
could not hear Husband clearly.
4
}
“Columbia,” mission control replied, “we see your U.S. Forest Service workers
tire-pressure messages—we did not copy [understand]
search for debris from the
your last [message].”
space shuttle Columbia in
“Roger,” Husband responded. “Erm . . . . ”
eastern Texas in April 2003.
Those were the last words from Columbia’s
astronauts. After that, mission control heard only radio noise and crackling sounds. The shuttle had begun to break apart.
People on the ground in Texas saw the disaster as it happened. Some reported seeing a ball of fire in the sky. Others saw the craft break into pieces. The pieces spiraled down to the ground.
All seven astronauts died in the disaster. Columbia, which had cost more than $1.2 billion to build, was completely destroyed. Andy Gallacher, a British reporter, was in Texas when Columbia fell to Earth. He described the scene afterward. “The school playing field is scattered with wreckage, from charred [burned] pieces of metal the size of a finger nail, to large chunks,” he said. “The children of two farmers found the remains [body] of one crew member.” With the loss of the expensive shuttle and the deaths of all seven crew members, the Columbia accident was one of the worst space disasters in history.
SPACE DISASTERS ARE SERIOUS ACCIDENTS INVOLVING SPACECRAFT. THE
ACCIDENTS INCLUDE EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES. SOME SPACE DISASTERS HAVE
HAPPENED IN SPACE. OTHERS HAVE OCCURRED DURING TAKEOFFS AND
LANDINGS. SPACE DISASTERS HAVE KILLED MANY ASTRONAUTS. SPACE
DISASTERS HAVE ALSO KILLED PEOPLE WORKING NEAR SPACECRAFT.
Unlike some other kinds of disasters, such as airplane All seven astronauts
crashes, space disasters usually kill only a few people at once.
aboard Columbia died
Only seven people died when Columbia broke apart in 2003.
when the space shuttle
Yet the accident also destroyed an important and expensive
}broke apart in 2003.
spacecraft. Columbia was one of only
four U.S. space shuttles. Building a
replacement would have cost $3 billion.
After a space disaster, nations with
space programs usually delay other
spaceflights. Workers must check other
spacecraft to make sure they are safe.
After the Columbia disaster, the United
States grounded (kept on the ground)
the three other space shuttles. It took
workers more than two years to make
sure the three shuttles were safe. The
repairs and delays cost billions of dollars.
6
“It sounded like a big boom.
“It sounded like a b
It rattled the windows for about 5 seconds
and I didn’
I didn t know
’
what was going on.
what was g
—Adie Massaria, who heard
”
—Adie Massaria, who heard Columbia break
apart over T
apart ov
exas on F
er T
ebruary 1, 2003
exas on F
Space shuttle Columbia
} takes off on its final
mission on January 16,
2003, from the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.
HOW MANY DEATHS?
Nobody knows how many space disasters have happened. Years ago, the former Soviet Union (based in modern-day Russia) kept space disasters a secret. Soviet leaders thought that news of space disasters would embarrass their country. But we do know that from the time spaceflight began in the 1950s, space disasters have killed at least twenty-one astronauts. More than 150 workers on the ground have also died in space disasters. Other workers have been injured.
The number of deaths seems small compared to an airplane crash, which can kill hundreds of people at once. However, the death toll is actually quite large because very few people have flown in space. In fact, disasters have killed almost 5 percent of people who have ever flown in space. Imagine if accidents
killed 5 percent of the
Star Sailors
people—one in every twenty—
who ever rode in cars.
In the United States and Europe, men and
women who fly in space are called
astronauts. The word comes from the Greek
words astron (star) and nautes (sailor).
Russians call their space travelers
cosmonauts, meaning “universe sailors.”
The Chinese use the word
taikonaut,
U.S. astronaut John Glenn
which means
(right) and Soviet
“space
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin }
sailor.”
(far right) were among the
first humans in space.
8
} A Soviet spacecraft launches in 1975.
For many years, the Soviet Union kept
their space disasters secret.
“[During a launch] you’re really taking an explosion
and you’re trying to contro
ou’
l it.
re trying to contro
You’
Y
re trying to
ou’
harness that energy
harne
in a way that will propel you into space.
But there are a million things that can go wrong.
But there are a million things that can g
—astronaut Michael P. Anderson, who died in the 2003 Columbia ”
—astronaut Michael P. Anderson, who died in the 2003 Columbia disaster
MORE DISASTERS AHEAD?
In the United States, an agency called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) oversees spaceflight and exploration. NASA works to make sure that spaceflights are safe.
But despite safety precautions, more space disasters will probably take place in the future. More and more countries are starting space programs and building spacecraft. Some private companies plan to take tourists into space. Someday thousands of people might fly into space on passenger flights. As the number of passengers and flights increases, so will the chances that disaster will strike.
Mars Monster?
When people count up space disasters, they include only accidents involving humans. But disaster can also strike unpiloted spacecraft (spacecraft that don’t carry people). These spacecraft use cameras and scientific instruments to explore faraway planets and other parts of space. Space workers control the spacecraft from Earth with radio signals and computers.
Many unpiloted missions to Mars—the Red Planet—have ended in disaster.
In fact, almost three out of every four spacecraft sent to the Red Planet have failed. Some of the spacecraft crashed. Others did not work properly.
Some just disappeared. Space workers joke about the Great Galactic Ghoul—a Martian monster that eats spacecraft.
One of the monster’s last meals was the Beagle 2 (left).
This unpiloted British spacecraft tried to land on
Mars in 2003. However, the Beagle disappeared without a trace. The spacecraft stopped
sending radio signals to Earth. No one
knows its fate.
10
The John F. Kennedy Space Center in
Cape Canaveral, Florida, is where NASA
}
launches shuttles into space.
The command module
of Apollo 1 one day
after a fire that killed
}
three crew members
Three U.S. astronauts—Virgil
series of space missions leading up to
Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and
an important goal: the landing of a
Edward White—prepared for a space
man on the Moon.
mission in 1967. In their spacecraft,
On January 27, 1967, Grissom,
Apollo 1, they were supposed to orbit,
Chaffee, and White were wearing
or circle around, Earth. Apollo 1 was
space suits. They were strapped into
part of NASA’s Apollo program, a
their seats in Apollo 1 at the Kennedy
12
Space Center in Florida. Apollo was on
could not believe their eyes. Flames burst
the launchpad. Its hatch, or door, was
from the craft. Workers began screaming,
locked shut.
“There’s a fire in the spacecraft!”
The craft was not getting ready to
“Get [the astronauts] out of
launch, however. The astronauts were
there!” yelled space worker Donald
just practicing. They were testing Apollo
Babbitt. Suddenly, an explosion threw
1 to make sure it would work properly
Babbitt up against a wall. More flames
in space. As they made the tests, they
shot out of the spacecraft.
spoke by radio to NASA workers in
The workers grabbed fire
the control center nearby.
extinguishers. Frantically, they tried to
At 6:31 P.M., Roger Chaffee radioed
open Apollo’s hatch. It took them more
the control center: “Fire! I smell fire,”
than five minutes to reach the
he cried. Four seconds later, Edward
astronauts. By then the three men
White gave more terrifying information:
were dead. Chaffee was still strapped
“Fire in the cockpit.”
in his seat. Grissom and White had
Workers in the control center
struggled to open the hatch. All three
were badly burned.
Doctors later found that the
men had died from breathing
poisonous gases. The gases came
“Fire!I smell fire.
“Fire!I sm
—Apollo 1
”
—Apollo 1
from burning plastic inside the
astronaut Roger Chaffee
spacecraft. After the disaster,
engineers used
knowledge from the
tragedy to make
spacecraft safer.
The crew of the Apollo 1
spacecraft (left to right),
Virgil Grissom, Edward
} White, and Roger
Chaffee, died when the
command module caught
fire during a training
session in Florida.
13
WHY DO SPACE DISASTERS HAPPEN? THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS. THE
FIRST IS MECHANICAL ERROR—THE FAILURE OF PARTS OR EQUIPMENT ON
THE SPACECRAFT. THE SECOND IS HUMAN ERROR, OR MISTAKES BY PEOPLE.
FINALLY, “SPACE JUNK,” INCLUDING OBJECTS LEFT OVER FROM PAST SPACE
MISSIONS, CAN HIT A TRAVELING SPACECRAFT, WITH DISASTROUS RESULTS.
WHEN MACHINES FAIL
Spacecraft are complicated machines. A space
shuttle, for instance, has more than 2.5 million
parts. It has 230 miles (370 km) of electrical
wiring inside. It has almost one thousand
valves that open and close to let liquids and
gases flow through. More than twenty-seven
thousand pieces of insulation protect a space
shuttle from heat. During a spaceflight, all the
parts and pieces must work correctly. Valves
must open and close at exactly the right time.
Hatches must close tightly.
}
This technician performs
maintenance on a space
Cold to Hot
shuttle’s main engine.
Space shuttles must withstand very cold and
very hot temperatures. In space, shuttles fly
in temperatures as low as –250°F (–157°C).
When landing back on Earth, shuttles get red
hot—up to 3,000°F (1,649°C).
14
The space shuttle:
How it Works and What Goes Wrong
During the Columbia launch in 2003, a small piece of insulating foam broke off from the external fuel tank. The foam struck the orbiter’s left wing, damaging some insulating tile. During reentry, hot gases leaked through the damaged tile into the left wing.
The shuttle burned and blew apart.
The external fuel tank holds fuel for
the shuttle’s main engines. About
70 miles (113 km) above Earth, the
shuttle jettisons, or releases, the
tank. Most of it disintegrates in the
atmosphere. The rest of it falls into
the ocean.
The solid rocket boosters
propel the shuttle into
space. Approximately 28
miles (45 km) above Earth,
the boosters separate from
the rest of the shuttle.
They descend by parachute
into the ocean. NASA
reuses the boosters.
The orbiter holds the
shuttle’s crew, cargo,
living spaces, and
work spaces.
During the Challenger launch in 1986, hot gases leaked from the right rocket booster. The gases
burned a hole in the external fuel tank. The fuel
tank exploded. The shuttle tore apart, and the
orbiter smashed into the ocean.
15