James Metcalfe
Televised in front of millions of people in January 1986, the Challenger explosion was responsible for taking the lives of seven brave astronauts. However, it was a tragedy that could have very easily been avoided. The explosion was caused by the formation of ice around the space shuttle’s O-rings, which were used to separate the rocket boosters from the shuttle but one of the booster’s engineers, Bob Ebeling, had warned the executives of the launch that the unfavourable weather conditions would potentially lead to disaster. The deadline needs of the executives however proved to be the more important factor to them and the resulting disaster unfolded.
