"Challenger" Netflix

[OAITW r.2.0]

Watched this on Netflix last night. Been avoiding it for awhile because I knew the tragic conclusion as to how this ended. I remember the numbness of hearing the news and watching the sad end of this Shuttle. I also followed the federal investigation and knew that the O-Rings on the fuel tanks were the ultimate reason for the failure. Still, it was heart wrenching to revisit the documentary and seeing the films of all of the astronauts and their families leading up to and during the launch. Equally heart wrenching were the engineers at NASA and Morton Thiokol who made the "go" call on the evening before the launch. Clearly, everyone of these people had to live with their consciences and self-doubts to the end of their lives.

A real tough watch, but something I think everyone should see.

[Sneederbunk]

1. Does it discuss launch being scheduled for date of the State of the Union address?

Always remember that day lying in bed early (PST) listening to radio news and the report that ice was being chipped off the space vehicle in preparation for launch.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. It was mentioned, but there was no real discussion about that.

There was a lot of pressure on NASA to make sure that Challenger didn't scrub another launch....there were a couple previous. It was known back then that RR wanted that the launch to be a keystone of his SOTU address, but that angle was never directly explored. A shame, really.

[FM123]

2. Yes. I really want to see it.

I will never forget watching it live on TV. I was kind of in denial as it was happening, thinking maybe it's supposed to look like that? But deep down inside, I knew. Just like when we tell ourselves "I'm sure it's fine" we know, it's not.

[kirkuchiyo]

4. If any are interested

There is a really good book by one of the engineers called Truth, Lies and O-rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. Highly recommended.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. Interesting....was it the MT QC Engineer that had flagged the problem of previous ORing degradation

on previous launches? The overall design of the booster was completely revamped to address the problems of the Orings in the assembly of the booster sections.

[milestogo]

6. It was very good. Most of the focus has been on the teacher Christa McAuliffe,

but there were others on the doomed flight, and you get to hear from their families.