Since I first saw Star Trek when I was little, I’ve been hooked on all things space. That includes both science fiction and real life space travel. So, naturally in high school, when given the chance, joined Project SPARC (Space Research Center), in which we planned and carried out a space flight simulation. In fact in my junior and senior years I was project coordinator (I know doesn’t get much geekier than that…)
During my senior year, I had to write a paper on… something in order to graduate. So, I picked manned space flight accidents. I wanted to prove that while tragic, NASA is one of the most important yet under-appreciated organizations that our country has. During that time I read dozens of documents on the accidents, NASA and even got the chance to interview an astronaut. Hearing his perspective was the most valuable in my opinion. I’ll never forget him telling me, in not so many words… We all know we may not come back. It’s a risk we are willing to take.
Before I start I want to say, I am a firm supporter of NASA and this is in no way intended to reflect upon them negatively. My hope is that knowing this will make others see that while they have had some major set backs, it was not due to lack of intelligence or lack of caring. In fact, NASA has over 6,000 patents registered with the patent office and are
responsible for many things we use everyday. Without NASA we wouldn’t have things like: invisible braces,
scratch resistant lenses, water filters and long-distance telecommunications.
Also, this is not the paper nor taken directly from it (it was about ten times as long and a lot more detailed) but it shares the main ideas and findings…
On January 27, 1967, the crew of Apollo I entered their spacecraft for what should have been a routine test to determine if the craft would have minimal functionality if the internal power was severed. Upon starting the test, Commander Gus Grissom complained of a sour odor in the air. After some investigation, no cause was found. The test was resumed and pure oxygen was pumped into the cabin. The next problem came when an alarm sounded indicating high oxygen levels. No one seemed concerned and it was believed to be caused by the movements of the astronauts. The test continued until a fire broke out in the cabin. Communication was lost 17 seconds later. The crew, both inside the craft and out, desperately tried to open the emergency hatch but they were unsuccessful. All three astronauts died.
Investigations could not determine the exact cause of the fire but it most likely was caused by a spark from an exposed wire in the cabin. Many small oversights lead to this tragedy. The most obvious being the exposed wires and flammable materials on board. Others included, not realizing the true danger of the cabin containing pure oxygen while still on Earth and poor hatch design. Ironically the hatch was designed so the door would swing inward instead of outward due to the request and influence of Grissom (during a previous flight, the hatch to the capsule he was in blew). Because of this, the crew could not open the door against the pressure in the cabin.
As tragic as this accident was, the errors were oversights by the design team due to inexperience. However, the Challenger accident in 1986 most definitely could have been avoided. There was an inherent design flaw in the way the joints were sealed on the solid rocket boosters. This flaw was well known but overlooked by NASA and its sub-contractors. On the day the Challenger was lost, the seal of the joint, known as an O-ring failed and hot gas leaked leading to the structural failure shortly after lift off.
Another indicator of a problem was during the inspection of the shuttle the morning of the flight. Large amounts of ice had formed on the shuttle the night before. They reported back that it was not a good idea for the shuttle to launch that day. However, they could not definitively make the claim that the shuttle would explode and there concerns were disregarded. They found out later that the cold was the cause of the o-ring failure as it made them less flexible.
Even though some of the crew is believed to have survived the initial explosion, the had no plan of escape if such an incident occurred and the entire crew lost their lives.
Columbia’s accident, in my opinion, was even more of a travesty. During launch, a piece of the thermal insulation broke off and created a hole in the left wing. Video taken of the launch showed the incident but when the engineers requested to be allowed access to information from the astronauts and the department of defense, they were denied. If they had been allowed, they may have been able to send the shuttle Atlantis to retrieve the crew or had the astronauts attempt to fix the wing with a spacewalk. But, management determined there was no need to be concerned. This is likely because this was on the list of “planned errors”. Debris hit the wings on multiple occasions yet nothing was done to prevent it from happening during future launches.
Now me saying all of that sounds bad, I know. But despite knowing all of that, I still believe in NASA and their efforts one hundred percent and here’s the reason: the attitude of NASA’s management team is fuelled by lack of funding and political pressure competing with safety. NASA receives less than one percent of one percent of tax dollars and they face funding cuts every time a new budget comes out (including in the next budget). Any delay on their part cost NASA hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as backlash from the American people and politicians. So, they go ahead with the plans when they suspected they shouldn’t have.
While every loss of life is horrific, only 18 people have lost their lives during manned space flights, all who fully understood the risks. Which makes it the safest way to travel actually… As a country, we need to not only honor them by continuing what they started by recognize the importance of NASA and the work they do.