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isanameaname t1_ivx9d88 wrote

Reply to comment by Spaceguy5 in NASA leaders recently viewed footage of an underwater dive off the East coast of Florida, and they confirm it depicts an artifact from the space shuttle Challenger by marketrent

They had been partially failing since early testing but that partial failure was deemed acceptable because they failed in a way which was thought to be within acceptable levels of risk:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster?wprov=sfla1

Fun fact: it wasn't.

> Evaluations of the proposed SRB design in the early 1970s and field joint testing showed that the wide tolerances between the mated parts allowed the O-rings to be extruded from their seats rather than compressed. This extrusion was judged to be acceptable by NASA and Morton Thiokol despite concerns of NASA's engineers. A 1977 test showed that up to .052 inches (1.3 mm) of joint rotation occurred during the simulated internal pressure of a launch. Joint rotation, which occurred when the tang and clevis bent away from each other, reduced the pressure on the O-rings which weakened their seals and made it possible for combustion gases to erode the O-rings.

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intern_steve t1_ivy3wpw wrote

If you watch old slow motion footage of the boosters during launch you can actually see small puffs of smoke escaping from the seams between booster segments before the o rings extrude to fill the gap.

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