prettysadiereed
I finished a new book on the Challenger Shuttle and it has l..
Published: June 8th 2025, 1:00:05 pm
I finished a new book on the Challenger Shuttle and it has lived rent-free in my head for the last few weeks. Obviously there's too much to cover for a sexy caption so I'll keep it brief.
The Shuttle Program ran from 1981 until 2011, intended as a re-useable space vehicle to move crew and cargo to and from earth to the Space Station. The Hubble Telescope was carried into space by Discovery in 1990!
There were 4 of them built: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, & Endeavor.
The program wasn't without its challenges. It's easy to think of NASA as above the tribulations of a government entity but pressure to launch to retain public interest, remain a leader in space exploration, and retain funding through relevancy led to devastating results. Despite a team phone call the night before launch where lead scientists insisted the launch should not continue, Challenger was okay'd for launch on January 28, 1986 where it lasted 70 seconds before exploding in the air.
Obviously this was followed by internal and federal inquiries, continued research and a dedication to do better.
The shuttle program continued, with numerous accomplishments in the name of space exploration until in 2003 upon re-entry, Columbia exploded. As a result, remaining shuttle flights were grounded and those currently onboard were serviced by Russian transport vehicles.
The shuttle program stayed grounded for two years while investigations remained underway. What's pretty interesting in the aftermath is that NASA investigators underwent rigorous "what-if" scenarios to test how and if the astronauts aboard Columbia could have survived if they had known in-flight there was an issue. A fifth shuttle was built, the Atlantis, as a rescue vehicle, should future shuttle launches have a similar issue.
Despite the rigorous work to right the wrongs in the shuttle program, it was retired after multiple shuttle trips finished delivering and assembling parts of the International Space Station.
Sorry - that wasn't brief at all. Space is one thing I just can't shut up about.
If you want to learn more, the book from Adam Higginbotham was great.