Seventy Two Seconds
[The primary cause of the 1986 space shuttle disaster was an O-ring of a design that hadn’t been tested below fifty degrees. But hey... it’s Florida, right?
That fateful night before the launch, the temperature went through the floor. That O-ring became brittle, leading to its subsequent failure. Perversely, when the O-ring first failed the solid fuel blocked the now open Joint. Alas a strong side wind caused the fuel to shift allowing the leak which led to the disaster that followed.
NASA managers had been advised in 1977 about the possibility of calamitous flaws developing in the O-rings at low temperature, but little was done.
On the morning of the launch NASA managers were advised of extremely low temperatures in the night preceding the launch. Launch was delayed by two hours to allow ice to melt but, even at launch, temperatures were below the
O-ring’s tested range. The launch was allowed to progress in spite of these warnings.]
[This poem borrows some content from my poem ‘No God Of Mine’.]
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Set for its tenth foray up into space
Challenger writ upon stark carapace
For every contingency, no expense thrifty
And sometimes the mercury drops below fifty
Brittle components barely discussed
But what dragged the mercury into the dust
Seven the number of highly trained crew
Count seventy two, then the whole thing blew
A Florida chill and an Atlantic gust
Precipitation; ash, fire and dust
Devilish snowflakes that flutter and dance
Through somebody’s devil-may-care negligence
Seek it and tag it and bag it all up
The stuff that came down from what had gone up
Forensic inspections shall raise questions that
Forensic Inspectors call smelling a rat
Too cold the night for an untested o-ring
Not really news when people are knowing
A spacecraft that’s barely defrosted of ice
Just send her up, Lads, that’ll be nice
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