It found that the challenger accident was caused by a failure in the o rings sealing a joint on the right solid rocket booster which allowed pressurized hot gases and eventually flame to blow by the o ring and make contact with the adjacent external tank causing structural failure.
The o ring challenger.
The failure of the o rings was attributed to a faulty design whose performance could be too easily compromised by factors including the low ambient temperature on the day of launch.
The final crew of the space shuttle challenger via wikipedia.
This raised a more pressing question.
The o ring was known to be sensitive to cold and could only work.
The challenger itself didn t technically explode but rather disintegrated from the result of the o ring malfunction.
This had failed due to the low temperature 31 f 0 5 c at launch time a risk that several engineers noted but that nasa management dismissed.
The cause of the disaster was traced to an o ring a circular gasket that sealed the right rocket booster.
Morton thiokol discovered that both o rings booster sealers had malfunctioned which led to the fuel tank blowing up.
Nasa s space shuttle challenger accident was a devastating tragedy that killed seven astronauts and shocked the world on jan.
But nasa was under pressure to keep to its ambitious flight schedule and the risk was deemed acceptable.
In challenger s case the o ring got so cold it hadn t expanded properly and allowed the leak.