PRESENTS — The Challenger Legacy

Forty years ago this January, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated on its way into orbit. All seven astronauts on board were killed. In the days after the tragedy, the world wanted answers. What really caused the shuttle to explode? And should the launch have been stopped altogether? For season five of Science Friction, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Fiona Pepper investigate how the Challenger disaster unfolded — and what that has meant for space exploration from 1986 to now. The Challenger Legacy is a five-part series from Science Friction https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sciencefriction. Out NOW — search Science Friction and The Challenger Legacy.

• 0:04Speaker 00

  This is AM, good morning, I'm Red Harrison. And as we go to air, NASA is about to hold a news conference on what is tragically America's worst disaster in space.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in the sky, killing all seven crew on board. It was an unthinkable occurrence.

• 0:25Speaker 02

  We've never lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like this.

• 0:31Speaker 03

  I remember going into my mum's place and then seeing it on her TV while we were having breakfast. Oh my god.

• 0:39Speaker 04

  I can still remember exactly how utterly incomprehensible I found it, that something like that had happened.

• 0:44Speaker 05

  We just thought it was taking off into space and then we couldn't believe it, it had exploded.

• 0:50Speaker 06

  I ran outside as fast as I could and I looked up in the sky and I saw a very strange contrail.

• 0:56Speaker 07

  Like it was just shocking.

• 0:58Speaker 01

  Millions of people all around the world were closely watching this launch because this was the first time that a civilian had ever been sent to space. And it wasn't just any civilian, it was a teacher selected to inspire young people to teach them about space.

• 1:15Speaker 07

  Among those glued to the television screens to watch today's lift off were Mrs McCullough's pupils at the high school in the small New England town of Concord where she taught. Their cheers turned to tears as the tragedy unfolded before their eyes.

• 1:30Speaker 03

  For those who were closely involved, those on the inside, even 40 years, that's four decades later, the launch is still vivid. It's like it was yesterday. He just put his hands down in his face and he just started crying. He sobbed. I just felt that we were the cause. There was stunned silence and I knew I had to say something. The thing I chose to say was...

• 1:55Speaker 01

  Here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction. We have no downlink. I'm science reporter Fiona Pepper.

• 2:12Speaker 03

  And I'm Carl Kruszelniewski, aka Dr Carl. I was a very baby Dr Carl back then. Taxi driver, physicist, engineer, trainee, doctor and a wannabe astronaut. Absolutely obsessed with everything to do with the space shuttle programme. I remember what happened to the Challenger, but I'm also pretty sure I don't have every single detail correct.

• 2:35Speaker 01

  And I'm too young to remember it, but I've gone down the rabbit hole reporting this story and I can't believe some of the details of what I've learnt.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  Together Fee and I want to tell you the story of Challenger.

• 2:48Speaker 01

  The story of what went wrong and what happened next.

• 2:52Speaker 04

  In the 40 years since the accident happened, it's hard for anyone who wasn't around before 1986 to understand exactly how inconceivable it seemed that NASA could fall victim to a catastrophe of this scale.

• 3:06Speaker 07

  He totally failed to elevate that issue. That to me is almost criminal negligence.

• 3:12Speaker 01

  My biggest regret in the whole episode, I wish I'd have said that there's a dissenting opinion here. But then, close to two decades after the Challenger disaster, another tragedy unfolds at NASA, killing another seven crew.

• 3:29Speaker 07

  America in shock as the space shuttle disintegrates minutes before landing. A 16-day mission ends in disaster. Seven astronauts are dead.

• 3:39Speaker 03

  It's a story about NASA, about risk, complacency and ambition. When you dig deep enough, there's no question that the.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  Organizational culture was implicated in both the Columbia and Challenger mishaps. We know they made mistakes, bad mistakes. People have to live with that for the rest of their lives.

• 3:59Speaker 06

  As you explore these different accidents, there are so many of these lessons that come out, but they keep repeating themselves.

• 4:05Speaker 01

  And although it happened 40 years ago, it's extremely relevant today because NASA is on the verge of sending a crewed mission to the moon for the first time in over 50 years. And we're all wondering, have they learnt from their mistakes?

• 4:22Speaker 02

  NASA is trying to do too much, and that's of great concern to me, especially as we look toward these Artemis missions.

• 4:29Speaker 03

  This is The Challenger Legacy, a new season of science fiction from ABC Radio National.

• 4:36Speaker 01

  Weekly from Wednesday, January 21st. Follow Science Friction on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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