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Transcripts of interactions between astronauts reveal what happened aboard Challenger Space Shuttle

A team of 7 members were headed for the Moon in 1986 when the world witnessed the space shuttle eruptting into flames just after take off.

BY RIMA BISWAS

PUBLISHED JUN 26, 2024

ICover mage Source: The crew of the disastrous STS 51-L mission. All seven were killed when the Challenger shuttle exploded (Photo by NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

In January 1986, the much-anticipated flight of the Challenger space shuttle was cut short when it exploded mid-air just 83 seconds after being launched, leading to the deaths of seven astronauts in one of the worst disasters in the history of space travel. Their panic-stricken last moments were captured in a final transmission which is available on NASA's official website. Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialist 1 Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist 2 Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist 3 Ronald E. McNair, Payload Specialist 1 S. Christa McAuliffe and Payload Specialist 2 Gregory B. Jarvis were on board the Challenger that day, as per NASA. Mission control was in touch with only four of the crew members until things went wrong.

Image Source: The crew of the disastrous STS 51-L mission: (back row, left to right) Ellison S Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory B Jarvis, Judith A Resnik, (front row, left to right) Michael J Smith, Francis R Scobee and Ronald E McNair. All seven were killed when the Challenger shuttle exploded during take-off on 28th January 1986. (Photo by NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

NASA also released a statement revealing that after a "thorough review of the wreckage and all other available data from the Challenger flight, NASA is unable to determine positively the cause of death of the Challenger astronauts but has established that it is possible but not certain, that loss of consciousness did occur in the seconds following the orbiter breakup." The recorded voice tape and transcription of the crew's final moments were soon made public and there was heavy media coverage of the incident.

Image Source: Launch of Space Shuttle Challenger from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, 1985. (Photo by Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images)

In the final moments, the crew was heard doing routine check-ups of the system and reporting back to the mission control. They were following protocols and did not seem to notice any malfunction until it was too late. “Go you mother," one person can be heard saying according to the transcripts of the Challenger crew's final words. Another one can be heard saying, “Feel that mother go.” The last words came from Smith just before all the connections and data were lost with the mission control. Smith uttered "Uh oh" just after Scobee said, "Roger, go at throttle up."

Image Source: A thick cloud of engine exhaust, solid rocket booster plume, and expanding gas fill the sky above the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which claimed the lives of seven crew members (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

As the Challenger burst into flames only 73 seconds into its flight, the mission control could only watch helplessly. The space shuttle disintegrated at 46,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, as per Space. Crews were assembled to salvage the debris of the shuttle and recover the remains of the seven astronauts from the ocean. The remains of the astronaut's bodies that were identified were handed over to their families and the rest was buried in a monument to the Challenger crew at Arlington National Cemetery on May 20, 1986, according to Arlington's official site.

Image Source: Frederick Gregory (foreground) and Richard O Covey, spacecraft communicators at Mission Control in Houston watch helplessly as the Challenger shuttle explodes on take-off. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

According to the NASA Technical Reports Server, the explosion could have been caused by a faulty O-ring, which is a rubber seal on the solid rocket boosters that had degraded due to cold weather on the day of the launch. After the examination of the wreckage fished out of the Atlantic, most of the pieces were buried and sealed in abandoned Minuteman missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Plans to send civilians such as teachers or journalists to space were also shelved for the next 22 years following the disaster, as per The Smithsonian Magazine. Some of the Challenger debris can still be viewed by visitors at the Kennedy Space Center.