Journal of the British Astronomical Association 106, no.
Memorial Website, 2006, http://www.reagan
3 (1996):179–81.
foundation.org/reagan/speeches/challenger.asp
37 Ibid.
(September 22, 2006).
37 Ibid.
20 Mark Wade, “Soyuz 11,” Astronautix.com, 2006, http://www.astronautix.com/flights/soyuz11.htm
37 Ibid.
(August 23, 2006).
58
37 Clive Cookson, “News: World Trade: Scientists
47 Jon Jeter, “At Least 21 Die in Rocket Blast at Brazil Aghast as 10 Years Work Is Lost,” Financial Times
Base; Fire in Engine Causes Explosion during Pre-
(London), June 5, 1996, 6.
Launch Tests; 20 Hurt,” Washington Post, August 23, 2003, A14.
37 Tom Wilkie, “Bang! Went $7 Bn Research, Pounds
500m in Kit, 10 Years Work, Dozens of Scientists’
47 Taipei Times, “Brazil Shocked at Rocket Deaths,”
Careers and, Probably, Europe’s Future in Space,”
August 24, 2003, http://www.taipeitimes.com/
Independent (London), June 5, 1996, 1.
News/world/archives/2003/08/24/2003065045
(September 16, 2006).
43 Dave English, comp., “Great Aviation Quotes,”
Skygod.com, 2006, http://www.skygod.com/
47 Jeter, “At Least 21 Die.”
quotes/space.html (September 24, 2006).
53 English, “Great Aviation Quotes.”
59
Selected Bibliography
Cable News Network. “Lost: Space Shuttle Columbia.”
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
August 23, 2003. http://www.cnn.com/
“Experience NASA.” NASA. August 25, 2006.
SPECIALS/2003/shuttle/8/23/2003 (August 28,
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasa_gen/
2006).
(September 1, 2006).
Challenger Center for Space Science Education. 2006.
———. “Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew.”
http://www.challenger.org (August 25, 2006).
NASA. August 23, 2006. http://www.nasa.gov/
columbia/home/index.html (August 27, 2006).
Husband, Evelyn. High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick
National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo to the
Husband. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003.
Moon.” NASA. N.d. http://www.nasm.si.edu/
exhibitions/attm/attm.html (August 26, 2006).
Imaginova Corporation. “Mission Columbia: Marathon
Research in Space.” 1999. http://www.space.com/
PBS. “The Loss of the Shuttle Columbia.” News Hour shuttlemissions (July 2, 2006).
with Jim Lehrer. August 28, 2003. http://www.pbs
.org/newshour/bb/science/columbia/ (August 27,
Lawrence, Richard Russell. The Mammoth Book of Space 2006).
Exploration and Disasters. London: Robinson, 2005.
Reichhardt, Tony. Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years. New Lovell, James, and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon: The Perilous York: Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
Voyage of Apollo 13. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Rense, Jeff, ed. “Space Disasters Since Exploration
Began.” Rense.com. 2003. http://www.rense
Macidull, John C. Challenger’s Shadow: Did Government
.com/general34/did.htm (September 1, 2006).
and Industry Management Kill Seven Astronauts?
Coral Springs, FL: Lumina Press, 2002.
Spignesi, Stephen J. The 100 Greatest Disasters of All Time. New York: Kensington, 2002.
Mullane, R. Mike. Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut. New York: Scribner, 2006.
60
Further Resources
BOOKS
Koppes, Steven. Killer Rocks from Outer Space: Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Bortz, Fred. Catastrophe! Great Engineering Failure-and Century Books, 2004. This book explores the
Success. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company,
impact of asteroids, comets, and meteors hitting
1995. Bortz explains the Challenger disaster and Earth, from sixty-five million years ago, when the
five other engineering failures.
dinosaurs became extinct, to modern times.
Briggs, Carole S. Women in Space. Minneapolis: Twenty-Lieurance, Suzanne. The Space Shuttle Challenger First Century Books, 1999. This book profiles
Disaster in American History. Springfield, NJ: women who have contributed in every way to
Enslow, 2001. This book emphasizes the historical
the exploration of space.
impact of the Challenger tragedy. The book
Chrisp, Peter. Space Station: Accident on MIR. New York: includes information about the astronauts who
Dorling Kindersley, 2000. This book explains a
lost their lives.
near-fatal accident on the Russian space station
Verger, Fernand. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space: Mir, which nearly collided with a supply ship.
Missions, Applications, and Exploration. New York: Cole, Michael D. Apollo13: Space Emergency. Springfield, Cambridge University Press, 2003. This book is a
NJ: Enslow, 1995. This is the terrifying story of
valuable reference resource for people interested
the accident on Apollo 13, which almost killed the in how governments use space exploration.
crew.
Vogt, Gregory. Disasters in Space Exploration. Brookfield, Dyson, Marianne J. Space Station Science: Life in Free Fall.
CT: Millbrook, 2003. Vogt provides a clear expla-
New York: Scholastic, 1999. The author, a former
nation of the dangers involved in space explo-
NASA mission control specialist, explains the
ration, with an interesting analysis of the Columbia workings of the International Space Station.
accident of 2003.
Fahey, Kathleen. Challenger and Columbia. Milwaukee: Woodford, Chris. Air and Space Travel. New York: Facts Gareth Stevens, 2005. This title for young readers
on File, 2004. This book gives an overview of the
examines both space shuttle disasters, which
history of flight, from very early attempts to the
horrified the world and forced NASA to
International Space Station.
reexamine its safety systems.
61
WEBSITES AND FILMS
Blast Off: True Stories from the Final Frontier. VHS. New NASA Kids Main Page
York: Discovery Channel, 1999.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/
Actor Ed Harris narrates this video, which pro-
index.html
vides an overview of the various people involved
This site from NASA includes plenty of fun activi-
in a space project.
ties to teach you about space. You can even make
a gingerbread rocket.
History of Space Exploration
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/history.htm
The Race to the Moon. DVD. New York: History
This website offers a wonderful collection of
Channel, 2004.
information about space programs in the United
Join reporter Mike Wallace as he explains the
States and other countries, with photos and sum-
early days of the space program, with all its suc-
maries of the missions.
cesses and failures.
IMAX: Space Station. DVD. Mississauga, ON: IMAX
To the Moon and Back
Corporation, 2002.
http://www.fi.edu/pieces/hiley/
This movie takes you on a trip from the Kenne
dy
The Science Museum of London and the Franklin
Space Center in Florida to the International Space
Institute of Philadelphia maintain this site, which
Station in orbit above Earth.
contains information about Apollo 8, the first piloted trip to the Moon. Here you can also find
NASA: Fifty Years of Space Exploration. DVD. New York: an interactive quiz and neat jigsaw puzzles.
Discovery Channel, 2003.
This five-DVD set examines the triumphs and
Women of NASA
tragedies of the U.S. space program.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/intro.html
At this website, visitors will learn all about
women who have worked in the U.S. space
program.
62
Index
air pressure, 16, 18, 21, 42
ESA (European Space Agency), 36,
NASA (National Aeronautics and
Anderson, Michael P., 9
37
Space Administration), 10, 12,
Apollo 1, 12, 13, 23, 28
16, 30, 32, 40, 42, 44, 48
Apollo 13, 30
Federal Aviation Administration, 52
Apollo program, 12
Flowers, Nick, 37
O’Neill, Noel, 26
Ariane 5, 16, 36, 37
French Guiana, 37
Organization for Economic Co-
Arlington National Cemetery, 44
future spacecrafts, 48
operation and Development,
asteroids, 28
18
astronaut, origin of, 8
Gallacher, Andy, 5
Orion, 50
Atlantis space shuttle, 18, 30
Grissom, Virgil, 12, 13
atmosphere, 23, 23
ground, 6, 32, 34, 38, 40
Patsayev, Viktor, 20
Babbitt, Donald, 13
Haise, Fred, Jr., 30
radar, 18
Beagle 2, 10
Hubble Space Telescope, 32, 33
Reagan, Ronald, 17, 44
Brasileiro, Romeo, 47
Husband, Rick, 4
recovery, 38, 40, 42
Brazil, 23, 46
Robinson, Stephen, 34
insulation, 4, 14, 15, 16, 23, 40, 44
rockets, 15, 16, 23, 36, 37, 46, 47,
Cape Canaveral, FL, 23
ISS (International Space Station),
50
causes, 14; explosions, 6, 16,
32, 34, 42, 48
23, 27, 30, 37, 38, 47, 50; fire,
Salyut space station, 20
6, 13, 47; gas, 13, 16, 38
John F. Kennedy Space Center, 4,
satellites, 18, 23, 32, 36, 46
Chaffee, Roger, 12, 13
11, 13, 26, 44
Smith, Michael, 27
Challenger space shuttle, 15, 16,
Soviet Union, 8, 20
26–27, 28, 30, 32, 44, 48
launch, 22, 26, 36
Soyuz 11, 16, 20–21, 28, 42, 48
Columbia space shuttle, 4, 6, 16, 23,
Lipscomb, Alisa, 27
spacecraft parts, 15
28, 30, 32, 34, 40, 44, 48
Loskarn, Ryan, 27
space junk, 14, 18, 24, 52
Constellation program, 48, 50
Lovell, James, Jr., 30
space tourists, 10, 52
Conway, SC, 27
sun particles, 36
cosmonauts, 8, 20, 48
Magee, John Gillespie, Jr., 17, 44.
Swigert, John, Jr., 30
cost, 6, 30, 34, 47, 48, 50
See also Reagan, Ronald
Mars, 10, 48
temperatures, 14, 23
danger zones, 24–25
McAuliffe, Christa, 26, 28
Texas, 4, 5, 40
death statistics, 8
McNair, Ronald, 27
Tito, Dennis, 52
Discovery space shuttle, 30, 32, 34,
meteoroid, 18
40
micrometeoroids, 42
Veigas Filho, Jose 47
Dobrovolsky, Georgy, 20, 21
Moon, 12, 30, 48
Volkov, Vladislaw, 20, 21
Morgan, Barbara, 28
Endeavour space shuttle, 30, 32
Murdin, Paul, 37
White, Edward, 12, 13
worms, 48
63
Photo Acknowledgments
The images in this book are used with the permission of: NASA/HQ/GRIN, pp. 1, 12, 30, 54 (top); NASA/
JPL-Caltech/GSFC, all page backgrounds; NASA/KSC, pp. 3, 5, 16, 23, 29, 39, 44 (top), 53; AP Photo/Jason Hutchinson, p. 4; AP Photo/NASA, p. 6; © NASA/ZUMA Press, p. 7; NASA/JSC, p. 8 (left), 13, 17, 18, 26, 28, 33, 43, 54 (middle and bottom), 55 (middle); AP Photo, p. 8 (right); © AFP/Getty Images, p. 9; AP Photo/
Michael Probst, p. 10; AP Photo/Paul Kizzle, p. 11; NASA/SSC, p. 14; © Bill Hauser/Independent Picture Service, pp. 15 (both), 24–25; © NASA/Getty Images, pp. 19, 34 (bottom); © Bettmann/CORBIS, p. 20; © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS, p. 21; © Mark Wilson/Getty Images, p. 22; © Keith Myers/CORBIS, p. 27 (top); AP Photo/Middlesex News, Paul Kapteyn, p. 27 (bottom); NASA, pp. 31, 35, 40, 49; © NASA TV/EPA/
CORBIS, p. 32; © NASA/Action Press/ZUMA Press, p. 34 (top); © Alain Nogues/CORBIS SYGMA, p. 36; AP Photo/APTV, p. 37 (both); © National Weather Service/Getty Images, p. 41; © Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images, p. 44 (bottom); © Reuters/CORBIS, pp. 46, 47 (top); AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, p. 47 (bottom); AP Photo/Joe Skipper, p. 50; AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, p. 51; AP Photo/Russian Space Agency, p. 52;
© NASA-TV/Getty Images, p. 55 (top); AP Photo/Dr. Scott Lieberman, p. 55 (bottom).
Front Cover: NASA/JSC (main); NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC (background).
Back Cover: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC.
About the Authors
Michael Woods is a science and medical journalist in Washington, D.C., who has won many national writing awards. Mary B. Woods is a school librarian. Their past books include the eight-volume Ancient Technology series. The Woodses have four children. When not writing, reading, or enjoying their grandchildren, the Woodses travel to gather material for future books.
64
THIS PAGE
INTENTIONALLY
LEFT BLANK
“A shower of. . .glowing fragments
“A shower of. . .glowing fragm
sprayed into the sky,
trailing smoke and burning fuel.
All around m
A
e,
ll around m
most of the spectators fell silent.
—Scientist Paul Murdin, describ
the European rocket Ariane 5
”
—Scientist Paul Murdin, describing the explosion of
the European rocket Ariane 5 on the launch pad in 1996
Imagine watching a space shuttle on the launchpad, ready to blast off into orbit. Astronauts have embarked on some of the most amazing adventures and made incredible discoveries. Yet sadly some the most well-planned launches have ended in tragedy. In fifty years of space travel, space disasters have claimed the lives of more than twenty astronauts and one
hundred space workers. In
read about these
two of the worst disasters,
space shuttles exploded,
Air Disasters
Floods
killing all the astronauts
Avalanches
Hurricanes
onboard. With dramatic
Blizzards
Mudflows and
Landslides
images and eyewitness
Disasters at Sea
Space Disasters
accounts—plus the latest
Droughts
Tornadoes
facts and figures—this
Earthquakes
Tsunamis
book g
ives you a close-up
Environmental
Disasters
Volcanoes
look at space disasters.
Fires
Michael Woods, Mary B Woods Page 5