The most tragic aerospace tragedy: 7 astronauts vaporized in an instant!

Manned spaceflight is a challenging thing. In the early days of human manned spaceflight, there have been many accidents. Some accidents could have been avoided, but due to various reasons, accidents occurred. One of the more famous examples is the Soyuz 1 spacecraft, which was flown by former Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov. Before he set off, Komarov knew that the spacecraft had as many as 203 structural problems that could prevent him from returning to the mission.

Although I know that there may be a tragedy, this launch mission cannot be postponed. If Komarov withdraws from this mission, then his replacement astronaut Gagarin will go to perform this mission. For the sake of his friend Gagarin, Komarov chose to take the risk without hesitation. As a result, everyone can imagine that the spacecraft could not open the parachute during the return to Earth, and the spacecraft failed to land softly. Knowing that there is a problem with the spacecraft, he still went on the adventure without hesitation. Komarov's deeds are deeply admired by people. In some space accidents, the astronauts may not know that they are in danger, and there may be problems with the spacecraft itself, but the relevant departments conceal key information.

The most tragic aerospace tragedy

In the history of human spaceflight, there have been many space accidents, of which the two space shuttle accidents were the most tragic. Because the space shuttle is more powerful than the average spacecraft, it can carry more astronauts on a single mission, and can send up to seven astronauts into space. And the more astronauts are on board, the more people may be killed if an accident occurs. The United States built a total of 5 space shuttles, of which 2 space shuttles had accidents during their flight missions, resulting in the death of 14 astronauts. Of the two shuttles that crashed, the space shuttle Challenger had an accident during the launch phase, while the space shuttle Columbia had an accident during its return to Earth. Among them, the accident of the space shuttle Challenger could have been avoided originally, but the relevant departments withheld key information, which eventually led to the accident.

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle "Challenger" performed its 10th space mission. During the launch, many spectators were there to watch, and many people used cameras to take pictures of the spacecraft's launch. When the space shuttle was launched and flew for 52 seconds, someone suddenly saw a trace of black smoke coming from the side of the solid booster on the right side of the space shuttle Challenger, but it did not attract everyone's attention at this time, and then The shuttle's engines continued to go full speed ahead. When flying for 73 seconds, an accident happened: the space shuttle Challenger suddenly flashed a bright light, and the entire space shuttle was instantly blown to pieces and turned into a fire. In this mission, there were a total of 7 astronauts, and these 7 astronauts vaporized in the high-temperature airflow of thousands of degrees before they had time to suffer!

Accident could have been avoided

There are two people who are not surprised by this accident. These two people are engineers in charge of space shuttle design and manufacture of solid-fuel rocket boosters Roger Boyce Jolly and Bob Ebilling. The night before the launch mission, the two tried to persuade NASA to postpone the launch mission because the temperature in Florida had dropped below 0°C at that time, and the ultra-low temperature would have a great impact on the performance of the space shuttle. Although it took 6 hours, they did not succeed in getting NASA to delay the launch.

When the space shuttle Challenger was successfully ignited and launched, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief, but the accident happened. 73 seconds after the space shuttle took off, it exploded in the air, and they watched the space shuttle on the TV screen vanish into nothing. . Subsequent findings proved that engineers Roger Boyce, Jolly, and Bob Ebilling were right. NASA ignored this critical information and finally let the space shuttle "risk" on the mission before the accident occurred. .

The results of the investigation showed that due to the low temperature, the O-ring that fixed the right auxiliary fuel tank of the space shuttle had hardened and had failed. Under normal circumstances, these O-rings need to expand in time when the space shuttle is launched, but because the O-rings have hardened and failed, the O-rings did not expand in time after the space shuttle Challenger was fired and launched. As a result, the flames continued to shoot out, and some people saw black smoke from the space shuttle 52 seconds after the launch. Then, one second before the space shuttle exploded, the O-ring fell off, causing the bottom of the main fuel tank to fall off, and the top of the hearing aid even hit the main fuel tank directly, which eventually caused the space shuttle to explode in the air.

In fact, before this, there have been some problems with the O-ring seal. The contractor Theokol Company has also put forward a written suggestion that it is not recommended to launch the space shuttle below 11.6 ℃, but the launch management authority of NASA Marshall Space Center rejected it. This suggestion ended up being tragic.