Challenger: a clinical view
Oct. 23rd, 2004 12:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolphins_logI finally saw the Challenger segment of the NASA DVDs. It wasn't a documentary. It had no commentary, no dramatic music, no eulogizing or memoriam. It was a presentation in two parts. The first part was the documenting images preparing for the flight, all the crew going through their boarding procedures. Followed by the short flight with only the single voice of mission control, coldly calling out all of the operations and the telemetry from the shuttle, including the shuttle failure. Then silence as the parts were filmed falling from the sky.
The second part was a step by step presentation of the investigation. The presentation seemed to be something that you would give to officials rather then to the public. ...graphics showing film of the final flight, with close-ups of the details. ...a puffs of smoke from the Solid Rocket Booster, how they analyzed where it came from using the various cameras' angles. The flare from the SRB, the colors of the smoke indicating the chemical content of what was burning. The Crew compartment identified and where it fell.
They showed the layout of the debris in the hangers, and detailed what the evidence indicated. Step by step they eliminated the Shuttle and the liquid tank from the equation. Finally they showed the evidence proving that the "O" ring joint failed and why.
It was all very clinical and emotionless, though I have to admit I was a little tense while they showed the launch and flight. I've never been able to watch it before.
The second part was a step by step presentation of the investigation. The presentation seemed to be something that you would give to officials rather then to the public. ...graphics showing film of the final flight, with close-ups of the details. ...a puffs of smoke from the Solid Rocket Booster, how they analyzed where it came from using the various cameras' angles. The flare from the SRB, the colors of the smoke indicating the chemical content of what was burning. The Crew compartment identified and where it fell.
They showed the layout of the debris in the hangers, and detailed what the evidence indicated. Step by step they eliminated the Shuttle and the liquid tank from the equation. Finally they showed the evidence proving that the "O" ring joint failed and why.
It was all very clinical and emotionless, though I have to admit I was a little tense while they showed the launch and flight. I've never been able to watch it before.
