Project Bootstrap

ISA SECURE DATABASE

PROJECT DELOREAN/BOOTSTRAP - SUMMARY

TOP SECRET//LG/SAR-HG//NOFORN

Appendix

Challenger crew fate

Of substantial scientific interest throughout Project Bootstrap was the fate of the crew of Shuttle Challenger. Prior to the events listed above in the summary of the mission, it was known that three Personal Egress Air Packs (PEAPs) had been activated on the flight deck. Additionally, it was known that Pilot Mike Smith activated several switches on the right hand panel of the flight deck. As the switches are lever locked and neither the force of the vehicle breakup or impact with the water were sufficient to move them, it had been inferred that Smith manually activated the switches following the breakup in a possible attempt to restore electrical power. No mention of the fate of the crew on the orbiter middeck had been publicly released. The Rogers Commission Report on the Challenger accident provides limited information on the cause of crew death and states that the data is inconclusive to definitively determine the cause of death. Per a report by Joseph P. Kerwin:

The findings are inconclusive. The impact of the crew compartment with the ocean surface was so violent that evidence of damage occurring in the seconds which followed the disintegration was masked. Our final conclusions are:

• the cause of death of the Challenger astronauts cannot be positively determined;
• the forces to which the crew were exposed during Orbiter breakup were probably not sufficient to cause death or serious injury; and
• the crew possibly, but not certainly, lost consciousness in the seconds following Orbiter breakup due to in-flight loss of crew module pressure.

Crew cabin impact with the water had been estimated to be in excess of 207 mph (333 km/h) and generated forces of over 200 g, which far exceeded structural design and survivability limits. As such, the only conclusions which could be drawn were that death was certain on impact with the water, and that all or most of the crew were alive, but possibly unconscious prior to that point.

Due to these circumstances, the decision was made to insert monitoring and recording equipment aboard Challenger prior to liftoff in order to definitively verify the status of the crew during descent. On January 27th, 1986 at approximately 10:47 PM, Eastern Time, Director Rubin and Alexis Attwater entered the vehicle and placed the monitoring equipment in secure locations aboard the vehicle.

Post-breakup events

At T+73 seconds, Pilot Mike Smith (responding to either the lateral acceleration of the right SRB lower joint separating from the External Tank or the conflagration of the tank itself) uttered the words "Uh-oh." This was the final statement captured on the crew cabin recorder. At this point, the External Tank exploded following the rupture of the aft dome of the hydrogen tank and the right SRB striking the intertank. Challenger veered from its correct attitude with respect to the local airflow and was ripped apart by aerodynamic forces at approximately 48,300 feet. The crew cabin separated from the rest of the vehicle and began to coast on a ballistic trajectory. Inside of the vehicle, sensors placed by the Bootstrap team members indicated that the vehicle began to tumble about several axes of rotation, but that the forces were insufficient to cause lethal injury, and that the cabin maintained sufficient air pressure for the astronauts to maintain consciousness. Dick Scobee and Mike Smith immediately reacted to the breakup of the vehicle and attempted to restore electrical power to the orbiter. Resnik and Onizuka, meanwhile, activated their PEAPs, while Resnik tried to activate the PEAPs of the pilots. While Smith's air pack was activated, she appears to have been unable to activate Scobee's due to damage to either the switch or electrical systems. At the same time, the remaining astronauts on the middeck realized that something catastrophic had happened, and attempted to activate their own air packs.

As no bailout capability existed prior to STS-51-L, the crew had no means of escape even if it had been possible to do so. Knowing this, the middeck crew, apparently unaware of the extent of the situation beyond what they could ascertain from their seats alone, braced themselves and at least in one case, visibly began to pray. 25 seconds after the breakup at T+98 seconds, the cabin reached its peak altitude of approximately 65,000 feet. Data indicated that a possible breach in one of the cabin windows (most likely caused by debris impacting it from either the Shuttle itself or the External Tank during the initial breakup) progressed to the point of catastrophic failure. At this point, the crew were rendered unconscious within 5-10 seconds as the vehicle underwent sudden decompression. Cameras recorded a fog of mist forming within the cabin from water vapor due to the lack of pressure. Scobee and Smith, still attempting to pilot the vehicle, lost consciousness within 15 seconds of the window failure. Onizuka and Resnik lost consciousness just before this. Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair and Christa McAuliffe all passed out within roughly 7-12 seconds of the failure of the window. The cabin began to descend, still tumbling on all three axes, but then entered a stable, nose down orientation roughly 15-25 seconds after peak altitude as it reached terminal velocity. 113 seconds after reaching peak height, the cabin descended through 12,500 feet. It is noted that at least one to three crew members appeared to be regaining consciousness, but were still suffering from the effects of hypoxia and were in no condition to try to recover the vehicle any further. The cabin impacted the water 27 seconds after this point, approximately 2 minutes and 45 seconds post-breakup. The cabin impacted the Atlantic on the left side of the vehicle, in a partial nose-down attitude at approximately 210 miles per hour (338 km/h) with a force in excess of 207 g, causing a strong lateral sheering force in addition to the crushing effect on the cabin itself from deceleration. Crew death, at this point, was instantaneous.