2. The direct cause of the accident: After the space shuttle Challenger took off, the O-ring sealing ring of its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed, and the adjacent external fuel tank failed due to the high temperature combustion of the leaked flame, which caused the high-speed space shuttle to disintegrate under the action of air resistance at the 73rd second after launch.
3. The root cause of the accident: the defects and mistakes in the organizational culture and decision-making process of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are the key factors leading to this incident. The management of NASA knew in advance that the solid rocket booster designed by contractor Morton Theoco had potential defects, but failed to make suggestions for improvement.
They also ignored the engineer's warning about the danger of low-temperature launch, and did not fully report these technical hidden dangers to their superiors.
Extended data:
On the night of the space shuttle Challenger crash, Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, should have delivered his annual State of the Union address to Congress. After the incident, he delivered a disaster speech to the whole country in the Oval Office of the White House, and attended the memorial ceremony of seven astronauts who were killed three days later. In addition, the US Coast Guard launched an unprecedented maritime search and rescue operation.
After the accident, President Reagan personally ordered the establishment of the Rogers Committee to investigate the space shuttle Challenger disaster. The Rogers Committee consists of 14 members, including the famous American astronaut Armstrong and 1965 Nobel Prize winner richard feynman. Among them, Feynman chose to investigate the cause of the accident alone because he hated the cumbersome procedures set up by the government for the investigation.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster