The Challenger Disaster: What Went Wrong

Comments · 1.4K

• CA

  @Cameron_the_Robot · 4 months ago

  ​I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for your comprehensive documentary, The Challenger Disaster: What Went Wrong. As the nephew of Richard C. Cook, it means the world to my family and me to see his vital contributions accurately recognized in your film. So many mainstream historical retellings completely erase his role, treating the discovery of the O-ring scandal as an inevitability. By including my uncle, you honored the immense moral courage it took for him to break ranks and leak his July 1985 warning memo to The New York Times. That leak was the literal catalyst that shattered NASA’s initial cover-up, forced the Rogers Commission to dig for prior knowledge, and ultimately brought the private eve-of-launch teleconference into the light. Thank you for your rigorous research, your dedication to historical accuracy, and for ensuring that a brave man’s legacy is preserved for future generations.<br><br>So many documentaries do not bother to mention my Uncle, I am happy his legacy is mentioned.

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• FE

  @fernandavelasco8805 · 4 months ago

  Engineers: <b>drawing diagrams and basically every single one of them telling management it wasn’t a good idea</b> <br>Management: how could we have known they didn’t want to launch?!?! No one specifically said not to launch??? We can’t read minds :(

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• CL

  @CLB-l4h · 4 months ago

  Roger Boisjoly, the engineer who spoke out against the o rings, suffered quite a bit after the Commission. He was shunned within Morton Thiakol, eventually went on long term disability and resigned, and he carried huge guilt for the deaths of the crew even though he tried to prevent launch. The wrong person carrying the weight of the disaster.

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• EN

  @engineer_cat · 4 months ago

  Knowing what was coming, that felt like the longest 73 seconds of my life.

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• BR

  @BradH2024 · 4 months ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFRWj2Kcsbc&amp;t=575">09:35</a> - one minor correction: McNair had recorded, then accidentally taped over, saxophone music he’d recorded on STS 41B. He had wanted to try again on 51-L. But Dick Scobee, as commander with final veto power over such things, refused to allow him to do it.<br><br>As the story goes, McNair supposedly kept at it until Scobee, in exasperation, reportedly told him he could do it on the condition that Judy Resnik could bring her grand piano as well.<br><br>McNair gave up at that point.

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• KU

  @Kuddlesnot · 4 months ago

  &quot;What was to be achieved that caused you to go? Why couldn&apos;t you wait a day?&quot;<br><br>&quot;Well, as far as waiting a day is concerned, we wouldn&apos;t have gained any more information.&quot;&apos;<br><br>&quot;You would have gained temperature.&quot;

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• US

  @usm1le · 4 months ago

  the 40 minutes of explaining everything like the backstory of the astronauts really made the following imagery of the disaster so scary and devastating

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• WH

  @Whytho2000 · 4 months ago (edited)

  Literally, made me tear up reading the last bits by the engineers. These men tormented themselves over the loss of human life and asked why couldnt I have done more, while the managers did everything they could to avoid blame.

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• AL

  @AlaskaKrebs · 4 months ago

  Best thing I&apos;ve watched in years. The foreshadowing to Colombia at the end is chilling. Thank you for making this.

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• FE

  @Febreeze_101 · 4 months ago (edited)

  I gotta say, I’m only halfway through the video, but thank you for including the backstory of the crew. Everything I’ve learned about the Challenger disaster has usually focused on the technical analysis and NASA management at the time. Hearing the stories and voices of these brave people adds an entirely different sense of tragedy to it. Once again, thank you.

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• GH

  @ghost20012001 · 4 months ago

  I noticed only 2 hours in that among the Rogers Commission sits Neil Armstrong himself. Imagine having the first man on the moon grilling you as someone in the space industry

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• NE

  @nestcamo1181 · 4 months ago

  When people think of o-rings, they usually imagine a small rubber circle, no larger than a quarter. <br>The o-rings that failed and caused this accident were 12 feet in diameter, with a circumference of about 38 feet and were ¼ inch thick.<br>I&apos;ve ruminated on this disaster many times and this is the first time I&apos;ve considered their actual size

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