「我們永遠緬懷他們，我們不會忘記今晨最後看到他們的情景…整裝待發，向我們揮手致意，然後脫離了大地執拗的束縛，就此飛上天際，親近天父上帝慈愛的面容。」，雷根（時任美國總統）

國際

文化生活

電影戲劇

Video Courtesy: NASA

Beginning at about 72 seconds, a series of events occurred extremely rapidly that terminated the flight. Telemetered data indicated a wide variety of flight system actions that support the visual evidence of the photos as the shuttle struggled futilely against the forces that were destroying it.

At about 72.20 seconds the lower strut linking the solid rocket booster and the external tank was severed or pulled away from the weakened hydrogen tank permitting the right solid rocket booster to rotate around the upper attachment strut. This rotation is indicated by divergent yaw and pitch rates between the left and right solid rocket boosters.

At 73.124 seconds, a circumferential white vapor pattern was observed blooming from the side of the external tank bottom dome. This was the beginning of the structural failure of hydrogen tank that culminated in the entire aft dome dropping away. This released massive amounts of liquid hydrogen from the tank and created a sudden forward thrust of about 2.8 million pounds, pushing the hydrogen tank upward into the intertank structure. At about the same time, the rotating right solid rocket booster impacted the intertank structure and the lower part of the liquid oxygen tank. These structures failed at 73.137 seconds as evidenced by the white vapors appearing in the intertank region.

Within milliseconds there was massive, almost explosive, burning of the hydrogen streaming from the failed tank bottom and liquid oxygen breach in the area of the intertank.

At this point in its trajectory, while traveling at a Mach number of 1.92 at an altitude of 46,000 feet, Challenger was totally enveloped in the explosive burn. The Challenger's reaction control system ruptured and a hypergolic burn of its propellants occurred as it exited the oxygen-hydrogen flames. The reddish brown colors of the hypergolic fuel burn are visible on the edge of the main fireball. The orbiter, under severe aerodynamic loads, broke into several large sections which emerged from the fireball. Separate sections that can be identified on film include the main engine/tail section with the engines still burning, one wing of the orbiter, and the forward fuselage trailing a mass of umbilical lines pulled loose from the payload bay.

The explosion 73 seconds after liftoff claimed crew and vehicle. The cause of explosion was determined to be an o-ring failure in the right solid rocket booster. Cold weather was determined to be a contributing factor.  

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Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster (STS-51L)

飛向無垠宇宙的勇士們～

旅行美食

「看到店鋪上的招牌，一頭黑色的貓咪，有人特別進來問說：『這裡是不是動物醫院？』」


學習

喵！有包裹喔～

或許有人會好奇，為何「歷史上的今天」，1月10日我會選擇這個有點遙遠且陌生的鐵路主題來介紹呢？或許是小學時讀過名偵探福爾摩斯的《鑰匙與地下鐵》（英文：The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans），對英國地鐵的神秘與古老留下深刻的印象吧？


歷史上的昨天、今天與明天

1月