Space Shuttle's Tragic Lessons - Engineering Space - S01 EP03 - Space Documentary
Explore the critical engineering challenges faced by the Space Shuttle programme, from the quest for reusability to the tragedy of foam impact. Learn how engineers overcame obstacles, leading to both triumph and disaster. Discover the groundbreaking lessons learned from Columbia's loss, with a focus on RCC Panel 8, in this revealing episode of Engineering Space.
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Engineering Space uncovers the untold stories of space visionaries and their unwavering dedication. Delve into the history of American space achievements through captivating interviews, historical footage, and expert analysis, offering viewers a profound understanding of the challenges faced by engineers on the front lines. Hear from astronauts who entrusted their lives to the spacecraft crafted by these dedicated individuals. Explore pivotal moments on the path to space exploration excellence that have yet to grace the screen, guided by knowledgeable space historians. Discover the profound impact and significance of their contributions to humanity's quest for the stars.
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This series of documentaries was done incredibly well. The episode featuring the Hubble telescope is spectacular. It captures the technological challenges, innovations, and perhaps more importantly, the incredible human ability to adapt and persevere when faced with the impossible.
Phenomenal documentary.
I met the young blond astronaut/engineer at a conference years after the Columbia disaster. He was visibly shaken while discussing it but couldn't seem to stop talking about it. I feel badly for all those who lost their lives n the pursuit of exploration and those who are left behind.
John Young and Bob Crippen must've had balls of steel.
John also did 2 Gemini's and 2 Apollo's.
@@GregWampler-xm8hv My point was that they were flying a totally untested spacecraft.
If you want space travel to be safe here is what Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham said at a lecture I attended “Don’t go”
Fear
But it should be as save as possible. We are no more in the Apollo area.
@ Know this, Apollo was much safer than the Shuttle.
@@emily-clarkabsolutely. The reusability factor was what made the Shuttles so challenging to engineer and build, as the documentary clearly stated. It was also ultimately what made them so dangerous.
The only comparison between Apollo and the shuttle is that they both went to and came back from space. They are completely different vehicles and really shouldn't be put in the same category.
33:03 It wasn't a bad joint design. It was a joint design with a known limitation of inoperability in cold temperatures. NASA managers and D.C. politicians were warned against launching in conditions that were outside acceptable parameters. They ignored the warnings, and seven people died.
And they should've been charged with manslaughter.
Yeah, how the documentary tells it is total BS. Actually makes me angry how they sugar coat it....or rather blatantly lie about it. They knew what caused it right away because they were warned about launching in low temperatures....well not everybody did, but the higher ups in NASA who green lit the launch certainly did. Thats what you get when politics override safety protocols.
Well said, Pete. Al MacDonald said Nasa wanted to launch outside of qualified parameters and wanted M-T to agree to that, hence the disconnect. I initially thought the o-rings were installed in a design that was impossible to solve i.e. to maintain seal in a dynamic gap, not a static one. But I came to understand the joint rotation wasn’t fully understood until much later.
Damn straight. As a EE I can guarantee don't listen/overrule your engineers at your own risk. Sometimes you have to remind people there's a reason engineers have above to well above average IQ's. Also why engineering school is the hardest to get into. But we engineers have been through this with the "geniuses" in management. Invariably to the assclowns detriment. Fortunately nothing like life or death for me so we got to openly smile and denigrate the turd burglar. 😎
Uh huh. And what did we have with Challenger and Columbia? A rush job and to heck with the consequences ? 😮
I loved the shuttles ❤❤❤❤❤!
Thanks for such an informative story. It's incredible how much effort and detail goes into find that small error like the O rings. I was also thinking, could the shuttle be checked by the astronauts while in orbit but I guess they didn't know about the damaged on the wings leading edge. And how many spare parts can they carry 😏. God bless them all
It was definitely possible to do space walks to check for damage but they didnt. And they actually developed a paste that they could use to replace tiles in orbit. They just never used it. IDK if it would have helped in this situation. But they also started having a second shuttle ready whenever they launched one so that they could rescue the astronauts if they needed to.
@@johnhonda93 The damage wasn't in the tile area. It was on the upper steel wing area above the tile area which was on the bottom of the wing.
"Thank you for being a reliable source of information in a world filled with misconceptions. Your dedication to scientific accuracy is truly commendable. "
What are you talking about dummy? This KZheadr is just a pirate. He didn't make this doco. He stole it from the BBC and uploaded it.
SpaceX is new rocket starship Will you similar tiles but due to its geometry 90% of them will be identical and they will be attached to stainless steel which has a much higher melting temperature. Aerospace is built on previous innovations and it takes all of the successful and not successful to take us into space permanently. My thanks to all the engineers and astronauts that flew on the shuttle and Apollo as well!
I race motorcycles and i have crashed many times....until we figure out perfection mankind will allways crash at some point....this is why we have to practice...forever.
Such wise words. Well said
100%
i am constantly amazed at what engineers can do!
It seems only yesterday Crippen was a young whippersnapper playing second fiddle to the legendary John Young
How do you bring up the o-ring failure in Challenger without mentioning Roger Boisjoly or Alan MacDonald?
The poor shuttle warned humans that she needed help and was screaming her predestined end! 😢
NASA have certainly learnt their lessons over the years, tragic what happened. I pray spaceX’s starship has a bright & safe future.
They’ve got a lot of problems to iron out, judging by their last launch.
Crazy to think they put humans on the Shuttle for the first test flight Brave men
Outstanding documentary. The death knell of the Shuttle was bringing in the drips of the dod. They insisted on some enormous cross range value and the engineering tradeoffs to get even reasonably close compromised so many other performance parameters.
Life or death ❤❤❤❤
I still cant believe we went back to rockets instead of improving on the shuttle design. Feels like we went backwards.
Different type of missions require different designs.
I ring problems leading to SRB failure was no surprise both thiokol and NASA execs knew this launch in cold weather was a high risk. The pressed ahead falling victim to normalcy bias.
A really good book about Challenger is Truth Lies and O-Rings
I have feeling we should keep doing it, but again I understand that poeple lifes are in danger.
How 'bout a shout-out to Richard P. Feynman? Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1965. (Not mentioned in this documentary.)
Yup in the video it says the engineers found the problem was the O-rings when in fact it was Feynman who in the official inquiry showed that there is no resilience in the O-ring when it is at a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at the launch of the Challenger that day.
I still think we need a new shuttle using modern technologies. It's like a space pickup truck.
Need to express us measure units miles pounds gallons as well as metric
The shuttle was a great engineering achievement in its day but was built around too many inherently unsafe compromises - strapping the orbiter on the side of a huge fuel tank; using unthrottleable solid rocket boosters, never considered safe for manned flight; using a fragile thermal protective system to protect a vulnerable aluminum airframe, rather than using stainless or titanium
"there was no such thing as computers" and yet they were used in getting to the moon a decade prior
Yeah I noticed that too. Probably meant in reference to todays computing technology, ie. more computing power in our phones than any computer back then.
Space fight is not a trip down the turnpike, complacency cost 14 peoples lives. We need to have vichical to service low orbit with large loads put up and bought back for repair and put up space ex is only good for transporting lighter loads
How can anything spin that fast?...it cant be bearings...it has to be magnetic....nothing can take that heat can it?...im not MENSA but i know things that spin have to be lubricated
My RICHARD MILLE yesterday spun faster without grease.
Search for "Lubrication of Space Shuttle Main Engine Turbopump Bearings". There's your answer. Each turbopump is powered by the exhaust of its own small rocket engine, or "gas generator". And by small, it means that it's ONLY 94,000 horsepower (input to drive it). Each. So it would take 375 NASCAR Cup cars (750hp each) to drive just the 3 fuel pumps on a Space Shuttle. The liquid hydrogen it pumps is used to cool it.
Theres allways a better way to do things...we just havent found out how yet
I wish shows like this were more honest. "Investigations discover that engineers from multiple companies associated with the design and construction of the shuttle warned upper management and government officials it is unsafe to launch, but those people (goes on to list every single fucking name) refused to listen to the engineers and said to launch anyways. Now 7 lives are lost because of the choices made by unqualified management and government officials." A fucking o-ring didn't fail. Management failed. Like management always fucking does.
Those tiles were a disaster from day one. Could there have been a better way? I'm not a engineer, just saying.
There is no other solution so far. The concept of tiles is not disastrous, but technically very challenging.
The damage was on the upper wing aluminum area, not the tile area.
Alit people got complacent two times. Space travel is not a trip down the turnpike. Challenger and Columbia complacency cost 14 people their lives. With private enterprise nasal will have to become a regulatory so industry will put safety over profit like department of transporting regulat air ships and road and manufacture of vehicals and support services
The Age of Space for All Mankind - Began according to Moscow Time. according to the Time of the Country with the Capital in Moscow. Gagarin - The First Earthman who Made a Manned Flight into Space. Titov - The First Earthling who Made a Manned Daily Flight into Space. Leonov - The First Earthling who Made the Entrance into the Open Space. The First artificial satellite of the Planet Earth 🌏 - Russian Sputnik 1. The First stable Signal from Space (which Mankind managed to receive) was Sent to Planet Earth - Russian Sputnik 1. Russians are Pioneers in the Sphere of Space.
Just improve the shuttle..
Space shuttle crumble.
Crumbler.
The challenger investigation didn’t revealed that the o-ring on SRBs has become brittled in cold weather… The engineers that design the SRBs already knew about this before the launch and recommends NASA not to launch. They even refused to sign the approval papers to launch but NASA wouldn’t listen . It was not an engineering or technical problem… it was political and gross negligence problem. The same kind of issue came up again with Columbia in 2003… NASA didn’t learn a thing from Challenger accident.
No such thing as computers in the 1970s? Huh?
yes, they had computers, not sure where you recived your education.
That is not good.
nasa learned northing.didnt lesson to engineers for challenger or columbia
What a load of self congratulatory bull.
12:00 That turbopump illustration is a joke. Why is such a production seemingly using a whimsical art student instead of an engineer who can draw to illustrate?
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