Challenger Launch Decision

Challenger Launch Decision

Problem Solving BUS 652 L1

October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, into space and a month later Sputnik 2 was launched with a dog on board. The dog, Laika, did not survive, but three years later the Soviets launched Sputnik 5 carrying dogs Strelka and Belka. They became the first living beings to survive space flight. One year later on April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being in space.

Throughout the time of these accomplishments, the United States, which was a competitor with the Soviet Union in more than one way, always seemed to be a step behind. America’s Alan Shepard followed Gagarin into space a month later, and on May 25, 1961; President Kennedy challenged the country to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The challenge was met on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind,” and sent the United States down the path of being the world’s leader in space exploration.

The space shuttle program could be viewed as the benchmark of success. Not only were the main components reusable, but multiple flights could be done each year and the ships could deliver payloads to continue research and otherwise help the country with communications, surveillance, etc. From the April 12 1981 through July 21, 2011, NASA’s space shuttle fleet of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor flew 135 missions and helped construct the International Space Station and deploy the Hubble Space telescope as examples of its successes. Despite the successes of the space program, the disasters will also be linked to the program. From the 1967 death of three astronauts aboard the Apollo, to the Space Shuttle deaths in the Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 the country has tried to balance the tragedies with the successes.

It is understandably a risky endeavor, one of which is accepted by each astronaut prior to applying for a chance of a lifetime....