If an important part of a spacecraft breaks, disaster can result. Columbia broke apart because some its insulation broke off. Challenger exploded in 1986 when hot gases leaked from its rockets. The gases made Challenger’s fuel tank explode. The explosion The weather was unusually
destroyed the space shuttle and killed its seven astronauts.
cold in Florida on the day of
On Soyuz 11, a Soviet spacecraft, three cosmonauts died the Challenger launch on
when a valve failed in 1971. The valve opened at the
January 28, 1986. Even the
wrong time. All the air escaped from the spacecraft. The launch pad had icicles
cosmonauts couldn’t breathe.
(below). The cold weather
caused Challenger’s rockets
HUMAN ERRORS
}to leak hot gases.
People design and build
spacecraft, and people can make
mistakes. In 1996 scientists fed
the wrong instructions into the
computer on board Ariane 5, a
European rocket. That error
caused the rocket to tip over after
takeoff. The rocket cracked and
exploded.
Bad decisions are another kind
of human error. For instance,
officials at NASA decided to
launch Challenger on a cold
morning in 1986. Some NASA
workers warned that the cold air
could cause the shuttle’s rockets to
leak hot gases. But NASA
launched the shuttle anyway. The
rockets leaked, and Challenger
exploded.
16
A flame can be seen near the
} external fuel tank as Challenger
takes off in 1986. Seconds later,
the shuttle exploded.
“We will never forget them,
“We will never forget them
nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as the
nor the last tim
y
e we saw them, this morning, as the
prepared for their journey and wa
prepared for their journe
v
y and wa ed g
v
oodbye and
ed g
slipped the surly bonds of Earth
to touch the fa
to tou
ce of God.
—U.S. president Ronald Reagan, quoting from a poem by John Gille ”
—U.S. president Ronald Reagan, quoting from a poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
while honoring the Challenger
Challenge astronauts who died during takeoff in 1986
SPACE JUNK
Space junk is another ingredient for disaster. Junk in space? You might think that space is empty. But it’s not. Thousands of human-made objects orbit Earth in space.
Space junk includes hundreds of old artificial (human-made) satellites.
Artificial satellites are spacecraft that hold electronic equipment. Some satellites pass along signals used for television, telephones, and the Internet.
Others hold cameras that help scientists study and predict the weather.
People started sending satellites into space in the 1950s. But when the satellites get old or break down, people don’t bring them back to Earth.
Instead, they leave the satellites in orbit.
A tracking device called radar allows space workers to locate old satellites. The workers can then make sure that spacecraft steer around the satellites. More dangerous, however, are smaller pieces of space junk.
These objects include paint chips from old spacecraft and small pieces of metal from old satellites. Billions of these small pieces also orbit Earth.
TINY DANGERS
Even a bit of metal as small as a pencil eraser could cause a disaster. How?
Space junk orbits Earth very fast. Some of it flies at 6 miles (10 km) per second. At that speed, a tiny bit of metal is like a bullet. It could crack a window. It could poke a hole in the craft. Then air
would escape, and people inside the spacecraft
might die. If a piece of metal punctured a fuel
tank, the tank could explode. The explosion would
blow the spacecraft to pieces.
So far, space junk hasn’t caused a space
disaster. But in 2006, the space shuttle Atlantis hit a meteoroid. Meteoroids are small pieces of rock
}
that zoom through space. The meteoroid that hit
This hole on the space shuttle
Atlantis left a 0.1-inch (2.5-millimeter) hole in the
Atlantis is from a small meteoroid
spacecraft. Luckily, the hole did not cause serious
hitting the shuttle in space in 2006.
damage to the shuttle.
18
This satellite image from NASA shows all the
space junk orbiting Earth. The pieces are much,
}
much smaller than they appear in this image.
“Hatch not...sealed?
“Hatch not...
What’
W
s happening?
hat’
What’
s g
hat’
oing on?
s g
—Soyuz 11
”
—Soyuz 11 cosmonaut Vladislav V
cosmonaut Vladisla
o
v V lkov
o
} A Soviet Soyuz
spacecraft ready
to launch.
Everything seemed to be going wrong The cosmonauts climbed into the for Soyuz 11, a Soviet spacecraft. The
space station. They planned to stay
problems began before the launch. One
for thirty days. However, the
of the cosmonauts scheduled to fly the
problems continued.
spacecraft got sick. Officials worried that
The cosmonauts planned to use a
he might have infected his crewmates.
large telescope to study objects in
So a substitute crew took over. The new
space. But the cover on the telescope
cosmonauts were Georgy Dobrovolsky,
got stuck. The cosmonauts could not
Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev.
get it off. They could not do their study.
Soyuz carried the cosmonauts into
Then a small fire broke out on the
space on June 6, 1971. In space,
space station. After twenty-four days,
Soyuz docked (connected) with the
Soviet space officials decided to bring
Soviet Union’s Salyut space station.
the cosmonauts home early. The crew
20
got back into their Soyuz spacecraft.
Before the craft disconnected from
Salyut, however, a warning light
flashed on. The Soyuz hatch had not
closed properly. “Hatch
not . . . sealed?” said Vladislav Volkov to mission control over the radio.
“What’s happening? What’s going on?”
“Don’t panic,” mission control
answered. “Open the hatch, and move
}
the wheel to the left to open. Close
(Left to right) Cosmonauts Georgy
the hatch, and then move the wheel to
Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor
the right six turns with full force.”
Patsayev pose in the cabin of Soyuz 11.
The instructions worked. The hatch
closed properly. Soyuz disconnected
parachute slowed the craft down. The
from Salyut and headed back to Earth.
space capsule made a gentl
e landing
As Soyuz commander Georgy
on June 30. When space workers
Dobrovolsky prepared the craft for
arrived at the touchdown, they
landing, he radioed mission control,
breathed a sigh of relief. The Soyuz
“Landing sequence proceeding
looked perfectly normal.
excellent, all OK, crew is excellent.”
When workers opened the hatch,
Seconds later, however, the crew
however, they found that all three
heard a hissing sound. It sounded like
cosmonauts were dead. Something else
air escaping from a tire. They thought
had gone wrong on this jinxed mission.
the hatch had come unsealed. But the
When the spacecraft reached 2.5 miles
hatch was fine. The crew searched
(4 km) above Earth, a valve was
frantically for a leak. To hear better,
supposed to open to let in fresh air.
they turned off their radios. Mission
However, the valve opened earlier,
control waited to hear from the crew.
when the craft was still in space. When
But with the radios off, mission control
the valve opened, all the air rushed out
heard only silence. Mission control
of the spacecraft. The cosmonauts
thought that Soyuz’s radios had broken.
weren’t wearing space suits, which
Soyuz approached Earth normally.
would have given them backup air
As it neared the ground, a parachute
supplies. The three men suffocated
attached to the spacecraft opened. The
(died from lack of air).
21
A LAYER OF AIR SITS BETWEEN EARTH AND SPACE. THIS LAYER IS CALLED
THE ATMOSPHERE. IT CONTAINS GASES SUCH AS OXYGEN. THE ATMOSPHERE
IS THICKEST—CONTAINS THE MOST GASES—
AT GROUND LEVEL. THE HIGHER YOU GO
ABOVE THE GROUND, THE THINNER THE AIR
BECOMES. EVENTUALLY, ABOUT 62 MILES
(100 KM) ABOVE THE GROUND, THE AIR
DISAPPEARS AND SPACE BEGINS.
Spacecraft are designed to take off from
Earth, fly through the atmosphere, and then fly
through space. Some spacecraft, such as space
shuttles, are also designed to return to Earth,
passing back through the atmosphere to land
on the ground. Space disasters can happen
during any part of this process: on the ground,
in the atmosphere, or in space.
Super Slurper
DISASTROUS UPS
During launch, a space
Some of the worst space disasters have
shuttle’s main engines slurp
occurred during launch. During launch, a
up fuel quickly. Imagine a
spacecraft must work at full power to reach
backyard swimming pool
space. As it zooms through the atmosphere,
filled with rocket fuel. During
its mechanical parts are under great stress. If a
launch, the shuttle’s engines
mechanical problem occurs during launch,
would drain the pool in about
astronauts and space workers have little time
twenty-five seconds.
to solve it. Before they find the problem and
22
fix it, the craft could come crashing down to the ground.
Rockets are engines that propel spacecraft into space. Workers load rockets with fuel during launch. A full load of rocket fuel makes a spacecraft very heavy. The rockets must work perfectly to lift all that weight. Even a small problem with the rockets can cause a crash during launch.
DANGEROUS DOWNS
The trip back home is another
danger zone. Spacecraft reenter
Earth’s atmosphere at about
17,000 miles (27,000 km) per
hour. At that speed, friction
against the spacecraft heats it up.
The sides of the spacecraft glow
red hot. Temperatures reach
nearly 3,000°F (1,649°C).
Normally, insulation protects
}
spacecraft from the heat. But if
The space shuttle Columbia touches
the insulation has cracks or holes, as
down in May 1998. The shuttle’s
Columbia’s did, the vehicle will burn up.
parachute helps slow it down.
GROUND ZERO
Even on the ground, spacecraft are not safe from disasters. The Apollo 1
astronauts died when fire broke out in their spacecraft during a practice session on the ground.
Space workers face danger on the ground too. For instance, in 1964
three workers were putting together a satellite inside a building in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite’s engine started by accident. Hot gases filled the room and burned the workers to death. In 2003 the nation of Brazil prepared to launch satellites into space. But a few days before the launch, the rocket for carrying the satellites exploded on the ground. The explosion killed twenty-one space workers and scientists.
23
Danger Zones
Space disasters can happen anywhere spacecraft travel—
on Earth, in orbit around Earth, near the International Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope, or near
satellites, and even farther out in space.
Hubble Space
Telescope
International
Space Station
24
MOON
Weather and
Communications
Satellites
SPACE
SPACE JUNK
ATMOSPHERE
EARTH
25
“We felt the grief
“Wand shock over this
and shock ov
side of the world too
[in Dublin, Ireland].
I think I was too
stunned to cry. ”
—Noel O’Neill, who watched the
Challenger disaster on television
January 28, 1986, was an unusual
McAuliffe taught social studies at
day for many American
Concord High School in New
schoolchildren. On that day, millions
Hampshire. All twelve hundred
of children got to watch TV in school.
students from her school gathered in
They gathered around TV sets to
the auditorium to watch their teacher
watch the launch of the space shuttle
fly into space. McAuliffe’s husband
Challenger. Every shuttle launch is
and two children watched the launch
exciting. But this launch was special.
at the Kennedy Space Center in
One of Challenger’ s seven astronauts
Florida. Her parents were there too.
was a schoolteacher. Her name was
Everyone cheered at 11:38 A.M.
Christa McAuliffe. She was going to
when Challenger rose into the air. At
be the world’s first teacher in space.
first, the launch seemed fine.
26
Challenger flew normally. The
shuttle rose higher and higher
into the bright blue sky.
About seventy-three seconds
after launch, Challenger was
48,000 feet (14,630 m) above
the ground. Then mission control
got a radio message from
Challenger. “Uh-oh!” said
astronaut Michael Smith. That
}
was the last message from Challenger.
Christa McAuliffe and other astronauts
People watching on TV and at the
train in a zero-gravity aircraft for their
Kennedy Space Center could not
shuttle mission in 1986.
believe their eyes. As they watched,
Challenger exploded. Pieces of the
a high school student in Conway,
spacecraft fell into the Atlantic Ocean.
South Carolina, about forty-five
Ryan Loskarn was watching the
minutes from the home of Challenger
launch with his elementary schoolmates.
astronaut Ronald McNair. “When I saw
“I remember cheering, watching the
that explosion I felt like someone
split screen [TV] show of lift-off and
really close to me had just died right
Christa’s class observing the launch,”
before my eyes,” Lipscomb said. “Ron
Loskarn said. “Then I remember white
was a hero to a lot of us.”
smoke. A teacher screamed and
All seven astronauts died in the
students began to cry.”
disaster. Some may have died during
“I’ll never forget that day as long
the explosion. The rest certainly died
as I live,” said Alisa Lipscomb. She was when the shuttle’s crew compartment
slammed into the Atlantic Ocean. It
took recovery workers several weeks
of searching the Atlantic to find the
bodies.
Students at Framingham High School
} in Massachusetts watch as Challenger
explodes after takeoff on January 28,
1986. Christa McAuliffe graduated
from Framingham High School.
27
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES IN SPACE,
PEOPLE ASK THE SAME QUESTIONS THEY
ASK ABOUT DISASTERS ON EARTH.
HOW SERIOUS WAS THE DISASTER?
HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE KILLED?
HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE HURT?
}
As with other disasters, measuring
The crew of the 1986 space shuttle Challenger
space disasters involves counting
injuries and deaths. The Challenger
at last—
disaster and the Columbia disaster
Another Teacher in space
each killed seven astronauts. The
Apollo 1 and the Soyuz 11 disasters
In 2007 a teacher finally made it into
each killed three astronauts.
space. The teacher, Barbara Morgan, had
The loss of human life is always
been Christa McAuliffe’s backup in