STS-51L Launch (Isolated Camera Composite w/ Directors Track)

[@xygomorphic44]

That technical director did a damn fine job. In an instant he went from routinely picking good shots for TV to documenting and showing the world what was happening in the middle of one of the most tragic moments in American history. He knew full well the Shuttle had no crew escape system, and that astronauts were almost certainly dead. Knowing the parachutes were the SRB parachutes, did not want to show them because it would give a false hope to people watching that the crew was okay. The shot you choose can greatly influence the conclusions people watching live come to. He made sure to show what was really happening without distorting anything, and stayed professional in an utterly shitty situation.

[@frankfielder]

So nice to know NASA had a plan to save the boosters but not the people.

[@mfrontz]

Thought I'd seen every Challenger disaster vid. This is fascinating. I must say I kind of thought this guy was pretty heartless at first but he is doing his job and like everyone else didn't immediately know what happened. He also knew the astronauts didn't have parachutes and that focusing on the chute would confuse everyone and give them false hope, which of course happened. Thanks for this.

[@davidcouch6514]

mfrontz Yes I didn’t see live but a friend telephoned of the explosion and I asked about extent and he said from the explosion there seemed to be a pod from a parachute but they didn’t know if that was the Astronauts.

[@Broadwaymungo]

This Director immediately realizes he is documenting the worst accident In the history of manned spaceflight and that the footage his cameras are rolling on are going to be used for the forensic and historical record. He knows what he's doing is crucial and painfully necessary to find out what went wrong. I can't imagine what was going through his mind as well as the minds of each one of these camera men and women and the switcher operator. Grace under tragic fire, all of them. #NeverForget #AdAstra #STS51L

[@DavidR_192]

I agreed with you that he was just doing his job, until (a few minutes after the explosion, when it was clear what had happened), I head him say "Oh hell yeah" at a "good" camera angle. No excuse for that.

[@犬の大将]

@@DavidR_192 this is what the film analysis crew is trained to do. When misfortune occurs they have to be ready. Do not be surprised if they ever get a little over excited.

[@dare-er7sw]

NASA's stupidity killed the astronauts.

[@odatas]

"Forgett that there are no shuts at the orbiter" This decision was so crucial as to not get the hopes up of people. Brilliant directing of this tragedy.

[@Itsmytest]

Somewhere on KZbin is a live news feed that happened to show the drogue chutes for the SRB's (the same one's the director refused to switch to). However (I think it was CNN) showed it, and someone in the CNN control room started clapping - and you can hear the floor director clearly say: "NO CLAPPING!". The director here is doing a truly great job indeed, and nobody's lost control while showing the facts. "I don't want to give any false impressions"

[@deimos2k6]

the ROTI tracker cam view clearly shows the SRB's hole on the aft joint still leaking fuel after it fell apart, what basically caused the structural breakup of the main tank. That particular sequence has been cutted in most of the official video reports, but actually is the most impressive of them all.

[@dare-er7sw]

Yeah. The hydrogen leak is clearly visible.

[@alinbate4580]

The crew cabin can be seen also? If yes which camera?

[@dare-er7sw]

@@alinbate4580 Seen in slow motion only. Search: Challenger analysis.

[@miked1355]

yes thinking the same - I don't recall being able to see the uncut ROTI version before - seeing the flame plume appear at 1:12...still a sick feeling to this day.

[@krumplethemal8831]

Not true, if you watch the commission report documentary, they show all the camera angles. They were very thorough. They even show telemetry data where it was a sudden gust of wind that pushed the shuttle hard causing the SRB motors to adjust which reopened the spot where hot gasses were escaping. Had it not been windy, the shuttle might have been fine.

[@merrywissemes]

Never seen this. This producer kept his head and really tried to encapsulate the entire situation. I doubt today’s media would have to foresight to know that was only an SRB nose cone parachute. Weird to see all these videos so many years later of what was going on while I was totally oblivious to most of it back when this happened. Thanks for posting.

[@HailAnts]

Holy crap! Never even heard about this before. I like how the director first had them stay on the parachute out of pure optimism, hoping it must be the orbiter. But as soon as the woman says 'SRB recovery chute' he makes an incredibly smart decision to _NOT_ show that, knowing it will give millions of people false hope. Great handling of a tough situation..

[@TheChitownpete]

As sad as this is, you have to admire how knowledgeable and responsive the Director was. Documentation is crucial for learning and improving.

[@JustPippaNY]

1:30 that’s sad seeing the backup teacher cheering as though this is just part of the launch.

[@犬の大将]

No, Barbara Morgan was still in a state of disbelief. She said in interviews that the launch did not look normal. She had enough training to know something was wrong during those last few seconds. Eventually she was selected as part of astronaut group 17 in 1998. Her only flight was aboard Endeavour in 2007. During the course of the shuttle program and the time she was active, she lost 14 colleagues. This event was only the beginning.

[@LD-bv1pm]

@@犬の大将 She clapped. She waved to them when they launched and clapped when they exploded. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.

[@UncleMike33]

At that same time frame, on camera DLTR-3/Crawlerway, in the explosion. You can see the crew cabin burst out one of the smoke contrails.

[@quadronaut]

@@LD-bv1pm how are you suppose to know? she was probably confused, but was trying to make the best of it. Maybe it was just a weird looking stage sep. maybe the wind is weird. you never know.

[@Itsmytest]

Everyone at the launch site who were spectators, and most schools broadcasting the launch, thought that the explosion was the normal jettisoning of the SRB's. Everyone assumed this was just part of the launch process. It wasn't until a few seconds later that everyone realized what was going on. The shuttle had only been in service for 5 years at this point, and was still very much experimental. Not to mention, none of the crew were ever alerted to the problems with the shuttle, cold temperatures or SRB's: they were specifically left out of the loop by NASA and Thiokol. Had they known, Morgan would have immediately realized what happened without the benefit of a few elapsed seconds.

[@richie0408]

According to the investigation report, the crew cabin impacted the water approximately 2 minutes and 45 seconds after vehicle breakup. That would put it at about 4:10 or thereabouts on this video. The VAB Roof cam in the lower left does show at least two large splashes around that time and a few seconds after. Pure speculation, but one of those could have been it.

[@SockyNoob]

Damn.....

[@stargazer7644]

If you read the official accident report they identified the views that showed the crew compartment and other identifiable parts of the orbiter falling.

[@SawdEndymon]

FYI: that woman at the press site camera was Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe’s backup.

[@rick161179]

I have only just found out today that she became an astronaut by doing all the training and visited space to fulfill the dream of Christa. She then promptly quit and went back to being a teacher.

[@jakekaye817]

Beach site camera (row 2, column 3)... at 0:14 on the outside (our right) of the right edge of the SRB you can just make out one of the black smoke puffs that leaked out right after launch, indicating O-ring seal had failed.

[@David-we3sb]

Thanks for the comment. Yea at the very bottom you can see a puff of black smoke that definitely looks like something

[@Pilotfredrik]

Also in the fixed service structure you can see the puff right after it leaves the pad.

[@kevinmorris3200]

@@MelodyJ_123 it’s only visible in slow motion and still image

[@gerardonava1511]

Did all the O rings fail? the explosion happened on the other SRB

[@PigeonScratch]

It is insane to think about how good quality some of these videos were. absolutely phenomenal, and incredibly saddening.

[@kargaroc386]

That man was a genius.

[@andrewdutler9249]

I really appreciate the director’s apprehension about showing the SRB parachute in order to avoid giving a “false impression” because as he immediately noted when he saw it “there are no parachutes on the orbiter”. It must have been too tempting not to show it though because as we see here it went live right towards the end of this video. The thing that gets me is that, even though it’s only shown for a little more than 30 seconds, it really DID give a false impression in several ways. First, the networks took it live which I’m sure gave false hope to many viewers that it might be the crew cabin having survived the accident. Second, it even confused the folks at NASA itself as they felt obligated to comment on it since it was shown live and they gave further misinformation that it was paramedics parachuting into the crash site. This last bit still confuses me today as they knew where the recovery forces were and even if they were there that parachute is WAY to high to be someone jumping (and way to early to know what they were jumping into). Overall, I think it would have been best if he’d stuck to his initial assessment and not shown it at all.

[@PassiveSmoking]

1:11 bottom row, third from the left, that's the moment the SRB fails and starts leaking hot gasses onto the tank

[@dirtytreerat14]

They should have noticed this with before performing throttle up.

[@Kodos13]

@@dirtytreerat14 And done what? Once you light those Solid Rocket Boosters, you can't switch them off. They burn until they are out of fuel. Challenger and her crew were doomed the moment those boosters ignited. It could easily have been worse, believe it or not. The original "scenario" they envisioned involving an SRB seal failure had the leak happening immediately, and sending the shuttle stack slamming into the ground and exploding right there at the pad, destroying everything for a couple of miles around.

[@dirtytreerat14]

@@Kodos13 yes I know that. I was talking about the liquid fueled rs25.

[@rohan5383]

@@Kodos13 they should have waited for a warmer day

[@Lord_Merterus]

@@dirtytreerat14 Throttle up was not performed by the crew instead it was pre-programmed into the onboard computers of the orbiter (or the SSME's not sure exactly which) the SRB's would also enter a "bucket" in which they produced less thrust the SRB's were throttled via the litteral shape of the solid fuel and the casing inside the SRB the "Atlantis/Discovery/Endeavour/Challenger/Columbia go at throttle up" call simply confirmed it to the crew that the engines had throttled all the way back up to 104% successfully and that the SRB's had left the bucket the commander or the pilot on some instances acknowledged the call this was also a sort of com check verifying that the communications were good

[@aleckushmerek1757]

1:25 is when it exploded, ROTI Tracker has the best view.

[@fenderfetish]

The ignition detail on the ITEK is pretty astonishing

[@nathanrobinson2130]

@@fenderfetish Indeed. You can even see the second plume from the failed field joint on the SRB.

[@nolancain8792]

ROTI has the biggest lens too so it could get just about everything at 12,700mm. Extreme long range.

[@MichaelCampbell01]

I lived outside Orlando and was in class at UCF that day. I didn't see it happen, but saw it minutes afterwards as we'd just gotten out of class. Couldn't believe it.

[@rxw5520]

The ROTI tracker camera spotted the SRB flame acting as a blowtorch on the external fuel tank around 1:11, then the fuel tank breaks open and starts leaking fuel for a four or five seconds before the explosion. The same cam also captures an SRB at 1:59 looking like a candle burning at both ends.

[@peterbustin2683]

If you slow it down to 0.25 at 1:10 things start to get quite disturbing....

[@MarkPentler]

Holy shit, this is quite an upload. Production crew audio during events like this are quite an eye-opener.

[@BOGNORregisSUCKS]

1:26, you can faintly hear someone say ' My dear god'

[@ashokiimc]

Grouchbag 79 yeasss

[@Broadwaymungo]

This is astonishing. I have never seen or heard this cut of this event with PAO / Director Calling Shots. Thank you for uploading this. Where on Earth did you get this? #NeverForget #AdAstra #STS51L

[@ashokiimc]

I had the exact same question.

[@don312000]

Add these fine folks to the list of those who did a mind-bogglingly good job of staying professional in a moment of disaster. I've often wondered about who was directing this...sadly impressive to actually see it.

[@fabtkt3507]

look at the camera 'roti TRACKER' we see the bottom of the big external tank burn whole. I had never seen that. I want to send a thought for christa .. you are a star that will always shine in my thoughts, I will never forget you I promise you ... christa you are wonderful.

[@marlonisaac1]

Ya you can also see the leak in the right booster as it's flying uncontrollably at 1:27

[@Fucktheworld14020]

fabtkt me either first time u can see the whole tank collapse

[@CoolCademMAnimates-fz1ui]

Crazy how communication between the control room and the TV cameras has not changed over 38 years. Only difference (although it might just be the different companies’ rules and guidelines) is that nowadays they tell the cameras which one is going live a few seconds early so you can be ready.

[@OrangeYTT]

If it ain't broke...

[@犬の大将]

If anyone is curious. The reason why the vehicle did not blow up on the pad was because right after the first hint of smoke; slag from the exhaust sealed the gap. The slag was dislodged during Max Q; The process of taking the shuttle supersonic. At the exact same time that Max Q was taking place; the jet stream was blowing full force directly over the Cape. The SRBs and the main engines had to gimbal to keep the vehicle on course. The torque of this gimbaling sealed Challenger’s fate.

[@blakefrazier9991]

I wonder if the shuttle could’ve made it to orbit if the slag held firm.

[@犬の大将]

@@blakefrazier9991 that is always been the million dollar question

[@stargazer7644]

If you watch the actual video you can see this is clearly not the case. It simply took time for the flame to erode the metal in the joint. Watch the ROTI Tracker from 1:11. You can see the leak form and grow steadily bigger from the far SRB around the far side of the external tank for over 10 seconds before the max Q callout. Eventually it burns through the ET around 1:16 and aft SRB attach point and the SRB twists and punctures the forward oxygen tank and the conflagration starts in the area of the oxygen tank.

[@nathanrobinson2130]

@@stargazer7644You should share your expert analysis with the engineers who designed the shuttle and have said exactly what the OP stated. The metal oxide from the burning fuel did indeed provide a temporary seal; it was understood that this happened on each launch. The seal would have held through booster burnout had it not been for the most extreme wind shear the shuttle program had ever seen at that point. Once that shear hit, the seal was ruptured and the rest of what you described happened.

[@stargazer7644]

​@@nathanrobinson2130 Thanks, I've read all the public reports and expert analysis. The joint had clearly burned through and was venting long before max Q. You can see that with your own eyes, if you'd only open them. Yes, in previous flights the joint opened and resealed itself (possibly multiple times), but that's because it never burned completely through.

[@PCCphoenix]

At 1:12, you can see that the O-ring by the aft strut of the starboard SRB has failed and the solid fuel is mixing with the liquid fuel from the leaking external tank from the ROTI Tracker camera. This is the view shown on the TV cameras and the NASA feed right before the explosion at 1:25.

[@jenniferclark3771]

I opened two tabs, one with the original tv coverage and one with this, the commentary fits perfectly.

[@30AndHatingIt]

I’ve never seen the angle from ITEK Tracker… that clearly shows a detonation near the uppermost part of the big orange tank… that’s INSANE!!!

[@stargazer7644]

That was when the LOX tank ruptured and started mixing with the hydrogen that had been spewing out of the ET for about 10 seconds and enabled it all to catch fire.

[@30AndHatingIt]

@@stargazer7644 Yeah, crazy footage man. Never seen that shot before, even after all these years.

[@whattha_huh]

Watch the backup teacher fly on STS 118 Endeavor in 2007.

[@mohanicus]

watch the ROTI TRACKER AT 1:12...you can clearly see the burn through flame with the fuel on fire.

[@Tomfoolery1972]

Barbara Morgan's body language is incredible. She initially claps at the sight of the plume but you can literally see the realization sink in as she leans back. Amazing 🤔

[@goforit7595]

That was amazing to see all of that. That was definitely a chaotic day watching it on live TV.

[@StephenLuke]

RIP Dick Scobee (1939-1986) Michael J. Smith (1945-1986) Ronald McNair (1950-1986) Ellison Onizuka (1946-1986) Judith Resnik (1949-1986) Gregory Jarvis (1944-1986) and Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)

[@SockyNoob]

Absolutely incredible video

[@zacharylorencerata3929]

Farewell to the 25th mission 7 deaths, last flight of challenger SRB is the problem, explosion makes me cry to death Tonight we roam again to STS-51-L... Press F to pay respects... Tribute To STS-51-L and crew *R.I.P to all 7 crews* 1. Judith Resnik 2. Ronald McNair 3. Christa McAuliffe 4. Ellison Onizuka 5. Michael Smith 6. Gregory Jarvis 7. Francis Scobee R.I.P: space shuttle challenger 1983-1986 exploded in-flight on 1/28/1986 resulting of the deaths of 7 crewmembers FAREWELL TO THE CREWMEMBERS, REST IN PEACE

[@ashokiimc]

4:53 dammm that guy knew how unsafe the orbiter was.

[@mielleandDHLtrainPNR]

is she Seve?

[@FlatEarthKiller]

Even the bird flying by knows that it failed from the beginning.

[@stargazer7644]

No, he just knows the parachute is on the SRB, and he was looking for any hint of the orbiter.

[@jasminjavorina199]

Notice how the right SRB keeps going after the break-up in spite of the tremendous fuel leak. It always made me wonder if the vehicle would have made it to the point of SRB jettison had the leak been at the point where it wouldn’t have eaten away at the ET.

[@nathanrobinson2130]

The report said that the O-ring failure had likely occurred on previous launches, but a temporary aluminum oxide seal had usually filled the gap. A few seconds before the failure, the shuttle experienced one of the worst wind sheers in shuttle flight history, which likely ripped open that temporary seal. Without the wind shear, she very likely would have made it to SRB sep.

[@jasminjavorina199]

@@nathanrobinson2130 I heard about the previous failures, and the oxide seal, and how the wind shear ripped it apart. But im wondering if even with all these the vehicle would've reached the orbit if the O-ring failure had occurred further away from the ET...

[@okankyoto]

At that point, the SRB was already losing thrust- you can see the shuttle turn slightly before the breakup towards the right SRB (this was called out in the report). Even without the structural damage, its likely the booster would've continued to lose thrust until the vehicle lost control and broke up, but higher in the atmosphere- it was quite a while until SRB sep. (About 7-8 seconds before breakup, the asymmetric thrust was strong enough that it would've triggered a modern abort system.)

[@IanRubin2]

Pretty much what okankyoto said, unfortunately. Prior to the Challenger accident, the “black zones” (areas during aborts where there was no possibility for saving the vehicle and crew and where aborts weren’t really possible) were pretty broad. The crew had no bailout capabilities and some margins were VERY narrow. The leak, by the time we see it on the video, was severe enough that it just burned through the attachment point to the tank and compromised the seal on the tank itself. If it hadn’t failed at that point, the Shuttle would have had an enormous fuel leak immediately after SRB sep and would not have had enough energy to reach any safe abort point. Any ditching scenarios NASA researched weren’t really encouraging for prospects of the crew surviving and the tank itself probably wouldn’t have lasted long after the SRB torched it like that. Most likely, assuming the leak in the SRB was at the point where it hadn’t compromised the tank yet but was still in progress at booster sep, the tank would still be weak and, well… who knows, really.

[@dare-er7sw]

@@nathanrobinson2130 Yes. It encountered the jet stream.

[@seth047]

The woman in the press site angle is Barbara Morgan, the backup teacher for Christa McAuliffe and the Teacher in Space Program.

[@moreedcola6837]

She eventually went to space aboard Endeavour (ironically Challenger’s replacement) when it flew STS-118.

[@dancarlorata3176]

At the ROTI Tracker camera and Switched camera, the right SRB creates a plume before liftoff

[@youlllog9627]

This is the first time I'm seeing these different camera angles. Always heard that the crew "may have' or "perhaps survived" the initial explosion, and died when one of the pieces just came crashing back to the ocean. (horrific!) I have NEVER seen footage of that parachute before. One of those moments you knew exactly where you were when you first saw / heard about this. I was in 7th grade watching it live on TV. 😞

[@hannlol]

In case you thought the parachute was for the crew, no, that was just the parachute of the SRB.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

The shuttle had no parachutes (well they eventually added a drogue for landing, but thats as at the tail and not added until later), it was an SRB recovery shoot

[@stargazer7644]

The parachute was attached to the separated nosecone of the SRB

[@marvinm.messier1120]

I'm not a genius, but is it around 1:12 that the gas tank gets gets flamed / cooked from the bottom? Fucken crazy that they knew this could very well happen, but refused to ground the vehicle until they'd had a better design. Gross negligence.

[@moreedcola6837]

1 = Crawlerway 2 = Shuttle Landing Facility 3 = Beach Site Roof = VAB

[@CasualMDFan]

What about 4?

[@tetracot]

@@CasualMDFanpress site

[@shermankelly9062]

The young lady on the right is Barbara Morgan.

[@doge2899]

1:23 great timing buddy

[@timestampterrysassistant7638]

4:09 VAB roof catches the ocean impact

[@yoohyeonslostwig69]

The crew cabin

[@zKsery]

Some of this footage is unreal. Bottom right ITEK camera, seeing the SRBs emerge from the breakup and just keep on going like nothing is happing, very unsettling, can't explain why

[@zKsery]

@Andrew McFadden As far as I'm aware the orbiter itself was essentially torn apart from the rapidly changing aerodynamic loads it was faced with. I'm not sure exactly what speed it was travelling at during this point but the orbiter is designed to cut through the air in it's nose first orientation. As soon as the main tank began to disintegrate, as the orbiter began to turn away (uncontrollably) from the direction of travel, the incredible g-forces would have literally torn it apart as, instead of cutting through the air like it was designed to, hit the air like a brick and quickly decelerated the orbiter in a non-uniform fashion. The orbiter did not 'explode', it just disintegrated, and as it was built compartmentally, the crew module did, in fact, remain intact after the disintegration, there are pictures of the module itself emerging from the debris cloud, and there is evidence to suggest that the astronauts did activate their emergency life support systems between the disintegration and the impact with the water.

[@ShepperdOneill]

What's amazing is that the producer, starting around the 7 min mark, briefly talks about the chutes, and says he doesn't want to give people the false impression that the astronauts had chutes to bring them down, and that the camera operators should not concentrate on the chutes. Compare that to today, where everything on camera is almost always false (fake news), and producers no longer care about false impressions. Man, how time has changed. That producer should have won an award handling everything so well.

[@xapianoman]

I had always been under the impression that the blurry shot we saw on TV at the moment of the explosion was from a "chase plane". That is not the case, though. I just googled the "ROTI tracker" and learned that it was basically a big telescope mounted at an observatory. Here is a documentary showing how they used to get all of those visuals of the shuttle launches: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnjXlIpmgdlnh6c

[@Met-Tech]

Some tornado chasers need this dude to train them on how to shut up and get the shot.

[@AdhamOhm]

This dude was in a safe, sturdy, climate-controlled building while he was directing these commands. Its easy for him and he wasn't in it like storm chasers are.

[@Met-Tech]

@@AdhamOhm There are plenty of storm chasers who calmly observe, record, and narrate the thing that they came to see. They never yell OH MY GOD directly into the microphone every 2 seconds for 2 minutes. There are famous storm chasers (with meteorology degrees) who act like those maniacs on ghost investigation shows, who go into creepy buildings to find proof of ghosts, and when they think they found one, they scream and panic instead of doing what they went there to do.

[@Met-Tech]

Or @iCyclone is another example. Dude can be in the eyewall of a cat 5 hurricane, a town being obliterated around him, but he just silently records what he went there to find. That's how you do it. If you go get into a dangerous situation on purpose and then you panic and drown out your audio with gibberish and screaming, you have no business doing whatever it is.

[@Thunderer0872]

I just watched a Huffington Post private video and a woman was saying parachutes. I was thinking no there weren't any? Then this came up in my recommended and yes of course the SRB's have them. but the SRB's were detonated? So this is just the end of the SRB. Anyway 34 years later and I see a chute plus all these angles... The director was right though to say no need to give false hope! Still sad they launched in such cold conditions. I was 15 when this happened, closing in on 50 now.

[@johnalanelson]

I know that couldn't have been a parachute, but what was it?

[@StormSpotterMike]

It is a parachute. The nose cone of the SRB’s contained a parachute. It can be seen in one of the video feeds deploying after the breakup.

[@shuttlevideo]

I'm curious where you got the director's audio?

[@StormSpotterMike]

shuttlevideo I pulled it from a video shared in a Spaceflight group.

[@shuttlevideo]

Do you mind sharing which group it was?

[@StormSpotterMike]

Sure, it’s from a group called Space Hipsters. I can even share the link to the post for you: facebook.com/stephenslater54/videos/10153817488273403/

[@jasonlinton9902]

The roti tracker angle tells the tale watch as the fire burns threw the rocket just before the explosion

[@GonkDroid0923]

set speed to x.25 at 1:24 and you can see the O-ring failure on camera ROTI Tracker. see the flames on the External Tank?

[@drferry]

It's creepy to be able to look at all the shots and find the ones that show the flames eating through the solid rocket booster just before the whole thing exploded. I wonder how many times they played these before they saw the cause.

[@tusse67]

Officially probably a lot. Unofficially, they probably knew what direction to take the investigation the first time the saw it. Of course its just my guess.

[@Zoomer30_]

It would have been a very short video had the worst case that the Thiokol engineers feared would happen with a joint failure Morton Thiokol engineer Roger Boisjoly had said that total blow by of a joint would be an instant loss of vehicle, crew and pad facilities as the joint instantly unzipped. The truth was that, as flawed as the joint system was, it was strong and also got temporarily plugged by burnt propellant.

[@Tim22222]

How utterly tragic for him, thinking maybe they had dodged a bullet for 73 seconds...

[@okankyoto]

@@Tim22222 In interviews, he said that he had breathed a sigh of relief after it lifted off okay but still watched.. until it happened.

[@jason66801]

1:13 you can see it starting on the roti tracker

[@mjp29]

They say that parachute is a "false impression." I must have missed it, but what is the parachute a camera shot of ???

[@Tankwiper]

SRB nose cap.

[@thisnthat42]

I believe it's the SRBs parachutes. Normally they would parachute to earth and are refurbished and reused. Because of the accident as you can see they were flying out of control so NASA remotely destroyed them leaving just the nose caps to parachute back to earth.

[@renerpho]

It's the nose of the solid rocket booster. The "false impression" he's talking about most likely refers to people thinking it might be the crew capsule, which he knew wasn't possible (it didn't have a parachute). However, he was more right than he knew at the time: The footage was used by ABC later that day, where they claimed that it shows a paramedic on a parachute. Paramedics did actually chute in during the search&rescue mission, but that happened hours later. Compare kzbin.info/www/bejne/poakfaqPqL2Go5o starting at 4:18.

[@SuperTylerMan11]

My lord. Thanks for this. This is amazing!

[@vibes8930]

The bottom right-left camera shot is not a helicopter. That was taken privately from someone's house.

[@StormSpotterMike]

No, all footage in this video is NASA video. All footage was shot from NASA property at KSC, with the exception of the long range trackers, which were usually placed further away. If any footage was privately shot the NASA TV director would not have had access to it and it would not have made it into the live broadcast.

[@The747Hamster]

1:12 u can see the tank going on fire

[@streamer_services]

Boy you sure was adamant about not showing that parachute huh crazy stuff man

[@streamer_services]

@@anidolinteal3132 yeah man I know the reason why but you're not understanding and reading between the lines they chose to put parachutes on the Rockets to save them but didn't put parachutes on the Orbiter or an escape system in place for the astronauts..... it just goes to show you especially back then they cared more about money than people's lives...or else they wouldn't have even launched that bomb in a hurry like they did.

[@streamer_services]

@@anidolinteal3132 uh-huh....thats what i thought....thats what unintelligence always says to something that they can't combat....but yea ok im the dumb one for actually thinking about lives and not money.....and if you think for one damn second that the reporter didnt show the parachutes because ppl would think the wrong thing and get upset in their feels your crazy.... the only reason they didn't show the parachutes is because the people would ask the same question as I did why is there parachutes on the Rockets instead of the Orbiter but whatever you're smarter than everybody else

[@Oscylot88]

@@streamer_servicesme when I’m schizo

[@streamer_services]

Yes....I am......you have no idea what I do or have done for a living or where iv been.....take that how you will

[@f.r.y5857]

1:10 look at ROTI camera. The flame appears on the booster and start to penetrates the external tank.

[@snazz1158]

This should be in the library of Congress

[@sulijoo]

Seriously where does that parachute come from? What is it? What plane dropped it so soon after the explosion? Why? It doesnt look like a person. It takes so long to descend. Also in one of the views there's a small bright object above it...

[@da40flyer]

Its the parachute from the SRB nose cone/frustrum.

[@NS-ii3ef]

When it launched Heilcopter has the best view

[@CoolCademMAnimates-fz1ui]

Yes, that’s true, but when you’re filming this stuff for broadcast you want everyone watching to see what’s happening up close so it’s easier for people to follow, that’s why they went for close shots for the launch.

[@Zoomer30_]

The beach cam is not only one where you can see the smokepuffs at liftoff since its blackj smoke with a very light blue background.

[@smudge6831]

At 1:12 on camera 11 ...Challengers fate was sealed. Rip

[@AnimMouse]

Should have aborted launch after they saw that.

[@gavstreet8976]

Anim Mouse it happened to fast for them to even notice or do anything

[@nolancain8792]

They couldn’t abort until SRB Sep.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

There's an angle of the underside of the shuttle at launch that shows black smoke coming out as it left the launch pad but i can't find the it. It was in a History Channel doc. I can't find any videos showing it tho

[@chrispasini5870]

Technical director amazing saw tragedy kept doing his job. I'll cry later.

[@ln5321]

Was it normal to leave that door open in the white room (bottom right)? Seems like that should be closed.

[@da40flyer]

Yes that was by design. It had to remain open like that in case the crew access arm had to be put back in place quickly for a crew evacuation.

[@stargazer7644]

There is no door. What you see tucked to the side is the gasket that seals to the orbiter so the climate control stays in the room while the orbiter door is open. They don't want hot humid florida air in the orbiter. That area stays open in case the astronauts have to make an emergency exit out of the orbiter on the pad.

[@brianburgett5894]

In my opinion the structure of the tank gave way and collapsed down onto the shuttle . That in addition to the booster tearing the side out of it . At the same time the whole bottom end of the tank gave way .

[@nolancain8792]

okankyoto the leak literally tore the bottom tank off and for a brief second you can see the bottom give way, letting the booster slam into the upper tank, I believe it’s Liquid Hydrogen there.

[@Lord_Merterus]

@@nolancain8792 Nope Oxygen is at the top

[@DavidR_192]

"In your opinion" ? Who the heck are you, the director of NASA?

[@AnimMouse]

4:47 SRB Parachutes! Forget that!

[@jadams1722]

*Wow… she was clapping* 👏

[@tusse67]

She probably thought it was SRB separation. Careful not to apply hindsight

[@da40flyer]

She's looking at it essentially from behind and more than 10 miles away. It wasn't readily obvious what happened.

[@lockheedx33]

The crawlerway cam is very shaky...

[@devpilots95]

Who was with the parachute at the end?

[@StormSpotterMike]

Nobody. It was the parachute from the SRB nose cone.

[@jhrvta]

This guy is the Cecil B. DeMille of Space Shuttle accidents. Edit: I am being facetious.

[@MrStrongbox]

Why aren't the crew cabins equipped with parachutes?

[@da40flyer]

Enormous weight penalty and added complexity.

[@stargazer7644]

Because they aren't designed to separate or to stay intact after an accident like this.

[@JordanBahrPian-UkePlayer]

Who directed?

[@CoolCademMAnimates-fz1ui]

This would be one of the CNN directors, not sure WHO exactly.

[@cjohnson2506]

1:13 how did nobody see that hot gas leak in the right booster.

[@mielleandDHLtrainPNR]

the tank on fire!

[@da40flyer]

Even if they had, it would've made no difference.

[@stevencramsie9172]

Because we know what to look for now. When you’re looking at multiple cameras in the production truck live, you’re not gonna notice something like that. And even if you looked at it, you might just think it’s an anomaly

[@iranew8284]

What was attached to the parachute? Did I miss it in the audio?

[@skullgrin2996]

It was the chute for one of the solid rocket boosters. It as NOT, as some news sources claimed to be, paramedics.

[@scottbuscavage7361]

@@skullgrin2996 thnx for the info. I did hear that false report over th yrs. It makes no sense. Paramedics wouldn't descend from such a height, nor take ages to hit th water..thnx again for clearing that up.

[@stargazer7644]

@@scottbuscavage7361And they certainly wouldn't be parachuting in as tons of metal rained down from the sky.

[@DJAUDIO1]

This is excellent.

[@nexwithanxx]

Explosion at 1:25

[@seagypsydawn]

I saw smoke on the beach camera on the right SRB

[@RockinToke]

How come we can’t see the puffs of smoke?

[@StormSpotterMike]

Because those cameras are not added to this video. The cameras that captured the puffs of smoke were not transmitting a live picture. They were engineering cameras. They recorded onto film that was picked up post launch.

[@WoodsPrecisionArms]

It might seem cold hearted how this guy reacted but actually he knew he was documenting something world changing and what impressed me is not showing the chutes to falsify hope in people - you know back when the press had some integrity.

[@agoo7581]

Your fauxstaliga is annoying. The 80s was the height of sensationalistic reporting.

[@danzstuff]

uhhh, who is that? what is that? what am i-

[@garyloo5084]

What the heck is that parachute floating 7:09

[@LV_FUD80]

It was a chute from the SRB. They were destroyed in flight by the Range Safety Officer. At least one of the two chutes survived the destruction of the SRBs.

[@mielleandDHLtrainPNR]

she's survive?

[@Wil-Son]

Watch Chris ride Atlantis and the shuttle after Atlantis and the Soyuz rocket

[@amandabarrientos3043]

Can you do a video multi angle of Columbia space shuttle disaster. It did just like Challenger only this when is about to land and it happened a year later

[@StormSpotterMike]

Amanda Barrientos Hello, unfortunately I was not the one to make the original video, I only added the director audio track and reuploaded the video.

[@Hoelime]

It did not happen a year later...

[@luebsmx8]

Why are you trying to explain what the Columbia disaster was like no one has heard of it? And Columbia wasn’t “just like Challenger”.

[@declan9876]

There is not as many views of the Colombia

[@richmondnoahlimgalande8961]

The boosters are aliveeee!!!!!!!!

[@seagypsydawn]

Both boosters are still working

[@TASCO26]

Is there any more of this?

[@StormSpotterMike]

Mike C The original video is on KZbin. I believe it’s about 23min long. Search for the channel ShuttleVideo. The original audio contains the Flight Directors loop. I only had the 9 min of the director track.

[@TheSuziesue]

Well why isn’t it there!

[@adigyran]

where is his channel?

[@MarkPentler]

It’s a shame if we only have the 9 minutes. What an upload.

[@JM-mi2ew]

Reports were they were alive until they smashed into the water.

[@Music-yt7xo]

They were alive because they activates emergency oxygen and a couple astronauts got into pressurized suits.

[@ashokiimc]

@@Music-yt7xo none of them had pressure suits.

[@devinthierault]

@@Music-yt7xo Challenger had no launch/reentry suits. 3 peaps were active, and it's unknown if they lost pressure. If they did the 3 were probably active very quickly.

[@stevencramsie9172]

They were all likely alive, but most were unconscious because of the altitude. They did find that some of the oxygen packs had been pulled so it’s likely a few of them were conscious before the cockpit section hit the water.

[@mielleandDHLtrainPNR]

there's survive only one? 5:52

[@jenniferbeyer6412]

That was a fantastic job he got images that explain what happened during breakup and splash down. The chutes were the ones on the SRBs. not the crew cabin. That feature wasn't put into use. But it was a design feature of Challenger and Columbia. It was supposed to be a ejection platform to save the crew if the worst ever happened The government and NASA did not want anyone to know about the ejection system. Just like how they tried to blame the SRB manufacturer. They told NASA that it wasn't a good idea to launch at such a low temperature. It was totally preventable just like Columbia breakup.

[@HailAnts]

The orbiter only had election seats for the first three missions, with only two crew. They were adapted from the high flying SR-71 spy plane. They were never intended to be permanent, as only two could fit, and the shuttle was designed for up to seven people. Most importantly, they were almost an afterthought and all the astronauts seriously doubted you'd survive a Shuttle election at any point in the flight anyway. And the SRB manufacturer was to blame (along with all of NASA). Their management overrode their engineers and said it was safe to launch. As soon as it exploded the Morton Thiokol engineers knew exactly what caused it, the too cold o-rings. They were given a couple minutes of comfort because they thought it was going to explode right on the launchpad at ignition..

[@mielleandDHLtrainPNR]

amy see a fire in Orage tank and they explosion! 1:14

[@AnimMouse]

The directors wants being "wide."

[@ashokiimc]

You really think that’s funny?

[@Farlomous]

if only they would have had sensors on the tank that would have let them know something was going on, they could have attempted an abort to launch. probably wouldn't have mattered, but maybe if there was a forced break off from the ET they could have flipped it back over and if not make back to launch site, ditch it in the ocean. of course should never have launched in the first place, and the fact that no one was held responsible is a shame. people should have served prison sentences for this at a minimum.

[@nathanrobinson2130]

They did. The problem is that the failure occurred relatively quickly and it was impossible to discern fatal warnings from transient ones. You can see the telemetry here: spaceflightnow.com/challenger/timeline/. It's actually pretty fascinating how the computers fight to keep Challenger from destroying itself until the SRB failure becomes too much.

[@da40flyer]

Even if there were, there was no abort mode while the boosters were still firing. After SRB separation there were options but before that, they were along for the ride.

[@stargazer7644]

You cannot do any kind of abort, including RTLS, until after SRB sep. It is impossible to shut down the SRBs once they're lit. Anything that fails prior to that, including a main engine failure, will doom the orbiter.