'Challenger' plot: NASA would have hidden truth about the crash

This week we publish here in Mega Curioso a story reminiscing about NASA's Challenger Mission disaster, which turns 30 in 2016. In the article there is a brief account of the story as well as the possible causes of the crash and the possibility that it was a tragedy announced. However, the true version of the facts may not be exactly the same as the one widely known around the world.

A Gizmodo publication features excerpts from an investigative report produced by Miami Herald's Tropic magazine, aired two years after the horrific accident that killed seven crew members aboard the space shuttle in 1986. According to the story, astronauts, the teacher and other members of crew would not have died from the explosion.

According to the publication produced by reporter Dennis E. Powell, which shows what would be the true story of what happened after the Challenger explosion, the cabin would have been virtually intact, shifting for nearly 5 km before it began to plummet. Well, with that, the team would have survived and remained conscious for more than two and a half minutes until meeting the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

This hypothesis would have been raised after the investigation with numerous sources and several evidences found, such as the wreckage of the space shuttle recovered after the accident. However, that would greatly change the outlook and place an even greater share of blame on NASA. So the agency made no effort to conceal this story, which would be the true version of the facts.

What revealed Powell's report

The publication signed by Dennis Powell presented, in addition to an analysis of the possibilities of what would have happened with the shuttle after the crash, other bold details. Witness reports confirmed that NASA interfered with investigative work at all times. One such statement is from Coast Guard Commander Lieutenant James Simpson and reveals a huge desire to cover up the facts by the space agency.

According to the officer, a Coast Guard vessel found cabin wreckage the day after the accident. Among the remains were notebooks, tapes, and other elements of the crew compartment. In the midst of these items was also an intact astronaut helmet with parts of the scalp and ears.

Simpson would be on a same-day television program to talk about search and retrieval operations. When he awoke at 4 am on that date, he was informed of the wreckage found. In contact with NASA's PR officer at the time, who didn't even know what was found, the lieutenant was asked if he would tell about it on television. “I told him that if asked, it would certainly count. He said: 'The Coast Guard has no interest in appearing on television to tell lies to protect you, ' ”he told the report.

After that, a member of NASA's own astronaut office contacted him and advised him that families still did not know that the wreckage had been found the night before. With that, he decided not to mention anything in the program. "I didn't want them to know on television, so I lied live and I still feel bad about it, " he told Miami Herald's Tropic at the time.

What would have happened

According to the report, there was clear evidence that the astronaut cabin had not suffered from sudden depressurization. If that had happened, the middle deck floor would have buckled upwards and the astronauts would be thrown out within seconds, facts that simply did not happen, according to what has been ascertained.

The Challenger Space Shuttle Crew

As such, it is likely that the cabin slowly depressurised if it came to that. The team may then have lost access to oxygen in the suit after a few breaths. Someone, probably astronaut Ronald McNair, even activated pilot Michael Smith's personal emergency oxygen reserve (REPO). The only crewman who was in a difficult place was Commander Francis Scoobee, however, as the pressure loss happened slowly, it was enough to open the helmet to breathe again. Two other REPOs were also activated. The other three were never found.

According to investigations, the likely slow decompression would not be sufficient to cause significant damage to team members. The last expression captured by the cabin recording machine, which was recovered in the ocean after two months of the accident, was an "oh-oh". This shows that the crew probably realized what happened and remained conscious at least until the nearly 20km direct drop into the ocean began.

Dr. Joseph Kerwin of NASA's Life Sciences branch was responsible for the official accident report. At a conference in July 1986, he stated that there was no way to determine the causes of crew deaths. This left the investigators in doubt, raising the suspicion that the crew remained alive even with the possible depressurization of the cabin. One of them even stated categorically that it was certain that they were alive until they suffered the impact damage with water.

Why NASA wanted to hide the real story

"If they had landed softly, they could have swam to land." This was the finding of another person responsible for the investigation. The fact is that the Miami Herald's Tropic version and details of the survey were drowned out by NASA so that the original version of the story could be retained.

The probable reason was to avoid placing a greater blame on the agency as it would reveal evidence that the staff did not have sufficient safety equipment. That is, the organization failed to take precautions for the possibility of a catastrophic but survivable accident - as it did. There were no resources to stop the ship from crashing, and no emergency communications equipment to help keep the crew alive.

The construction of the Challenger spaceship

According to the Gizmodo publication, this whole maneuver was a mix of arrogance and “big idea” on the part of NASA. This is the same thing that allowed the agency to put thousands of students to watch a civilian teacher die from a dangerous space shuttle right from their classrooms.

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