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Brief Technical Summary of NASA's Challenger Accident Cover-Up
 NASA's fault-tree analysis failed to consider that space shuttle Challenger's solid rocket boosters could have crossed paths within the 51-L fireball. A crossing necessarily negates the Rogers Commission's postulated "right-aft O-ring burnthrough."
In a hearing of the Rogers Commission on February 7, 1986, Dr. Feynman inquired: "Can I ask a dumb question? Do we know on which side which rocket is afterwards? Did they go like this and cross or do they look like they went that way?" NASA put Feynman off, and Chairman Rogers sidetracked him. Dr. Feynman did not know about NASA's black photo-ID band until I told him, in late 1987.
For photo/recovery identification, NASA paints a black ID band (18 inches high) around the nose of the space shuttle's *left* solid rocket booster. Bill Rogers ignored this ID band in his report, most notably at the crucial fireball exit. Instead, Lockheed corporate attorney Rogers conjectured a "R-SRB burnthrough" for identification.
Rogers' ID relies on an enhanced 15-second film strip ending in the explosion. However, in JSC's '51-L Mission History Video,' the continuation of this film strip leaves no doubt that the flared booster sported the L-SRB's black ID band.
Adjacent Boosters in Perpendicular Exit at Far End of Challenger Fireball
(Mission Elapsed Time Seventy-Four Seconds or Less)
The Challenger Explosion -- A View from Above
On January 22, 1986, in a pre-disaster technical report requested by Senator Grassley's office, I warned him from Kennedy Space Center: "... and 'cold flows' run at Pad B were a failure, costing much waste of time and money. Tom Wiley can testify to this. The net result of all this would be delays in launching from Pad B, and delays in Centaur launches. I also learned from Bill Bassler, Centaur 'single-point-of-contact' in LSOC CMO, that the waste of hydrogen was deliberate, ..."
The terminal LH2 leaks were at the base of the left booster. It became super-cooled during prelaunch scrubs. A thrust imbalance resulted which caused a right-aft leak in the hydrogen tank at lift-off. At t+59 seconds, this leak became aggravated by the 5000-plus degree heat of continuous R-Aft Reaction Control System firings. Burn rate dictated the pre-explosion thrust differential between the two boosters, which was as predictable as the differential at lift-off.
Early Reaction Control System (RCS) Test at White Sands
NASA's Undisclosed RCS Issues Bearing on the Challenger Explosion
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Mission 41-C
Aft-RCS Yaw Firing
Dick Scobee
Pilot
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Mission 41-C
Aft-RCS Pitch Firing
Dick Scobee
Pilot
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Mission 51-L
Aft-RCS Yaw Firing
Dick Scobee
Commander
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Mission 51-L
Aft-RCS Yaw Firing
Dick Scobee
Commander
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North/South Views of the Right-Aft RCS Role in the 51-L Fireball Initiation
NASA failed to identify the key piece of lower booster debris by serial number, or by any other of NASA's standard identification methods.
The Rogers Report admits that no direct view exists of the location from which black smoke at lift-off and an assumed burnthrough at t+59 seconds originated. Live launch-day video refutes NASA's "burnthrough" copies. Congressional subpoena of original film should lead to credible closure of the Challenger space shuttle accident cover-up. (John Thomas Maxson -- The Betrayal of Mission 51-L)
The above summary of Challenger, Mission 51-L, was sent to Senators Charles Grassley and John McCain in July 2003, at the urging of reputable Pentagon efficiency expert A. Ernest Fitzgerald.
At this point, visitors seeking evidentiary closure for the Challenger disaster will definitely want to see the dogma-shattering
Fireball Frames. Those interested specifically in a narration of live video images broadcast nationwide on launch day should go directly to
Chapter 1
(six pages). Visitors looking primarily for slow motion video of the
Challenger fireball won't want to miss
Quick Preview.
For further technical detail and some telemetric insight into the Challenger disaster (which resulted from the intentionally negligent launch of Mission 51-L by Lockheed, NASA, and the Reagan/Bush administration), please see Disaster. Hopefully the links below will prove helpful as well.
Some Answers to Questions about 'The Betrayal of Mission 51-L'
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