Space+Race

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SpaceRace The space shuttle program began on January 5, 1972 with President Nixon's approval. Columbia was the first shuttle to launch on April 21, 1981. Since then there have been 125 shuttle missions designed to further our advancement and knowledge of space. There were 5 space shuttles designed from 1974 to 1991: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. Currently there are only 3 space shuttles in use due to the destruction of the Columbia and Challenger shuttle during launch and lift-off.


The Challenger space shuttle exploded on January 28, 1986. It was a clear day and the shuttle was scheduled to launch at Kennedy Space Center at 4:00 p.m. Many family members of the astronauts came to watch their loved ones launch into space. As the shuttle was approaching its maximum throttle up of the engine the shuttle exploded. Seconds before the astronauts got the word to throttle up the engines to 100% maximum power the radio connection went dead. Then, the unthinkable happened, the shuttle disintegrated until the solid rocket boosters exploded which caused the space shuttle debris to be scattered along four different states across the United States. Causes of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy were discovered months after the accident. First, the O-ring on the solid rocket boosters had expanded due to the cold weather. Since the O-ring expanded the fuel that was supposed to travel through the fuel lines was slowed and eventually halted, which caused the shuttle to be burning the insides of the tank and not fuel. Also, the external tank was too cold to allow for the condensation to form on the outside from the fuel. The condensation could not form due to the cold weather, so the fuel inside was under too high of a pressure that the tank exploded. This was a problem that could have been easily avoided, but the president pushed that the shuttle launch that day. Many people including the astronauts were weary to launch the shuttle, but they had to listen to the president.



 The Columbia space shuttle exploded on January 16, 2003 due to a break in the tiles on the wing. At approximately eight in the morning the Columbia was scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center. Many people came to watch as the shuttle touched down. When the shuttle was 207,135 feet above the ground traveling at 12,500 mph the communication was lost. Immediately after the communication loss the shuttle broke up in the sky. The debris was scattered along Texas and Nebraska. The loss of the space shuttle and its crew halted the NASA space program for two years. Causes of this space shuttle disaster were found weeks after the tragedy in a video film. After close analysis, the scientists found that a piece of foam from the external tank, which was no bigger than a suitcase, had struck one of the tiles on the shuttle and made a hugh gash in it. Normally a piece of foam this big would not have caused such a catastrophic problem, but since the shuttle was traveling at well over 1,000 mph the piece of foam penetrated the shuttle. The astronauts did not realize the problem until they were reentering the atmosphere for landing. At the start of re-entry the commander noticed the heat gauge was registering out of control. He used his radio to tell Houston about the problem, but the only words that were heard from his radio were "Roger, we...". Ultimately, as they were approximately one minute into re-entry the immense heat built up in the gash in the right wing and ripped it off. This sent the shuttle into a ball of fire, and seconds later the shuttle disintegrated in the night sky. ===The Discovery shuttle was NASA's third shuttle which has flown countless missons. Its first mission was on August 30, 1984 to deploy three communication satellites. Another, major milestone for the Discovery is the deployment of the Hubble space telescope, which has given us the best space pictures ever. Currently, the shuttle Discovery is in use, but will soon be retired to allow for the new Constellation rockets to take us to farther reaches of space. === ===  The Strategic Defense Initiative was first proposed by president Ronald Regan. The goal was to make antiballistic missile defense system, which would protect the United States against any nuclear attack. The missile would intercept a foreign missile up high in Earth's atmosphere and destroy it before it could pose a threat the United States. === === Works Cited: http://space.about.com/cs/challenger/a/challenger.htm === 