They said it was an o ring failure, how did they figure it out when everything was blown to bits
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While many responses have done a good job talking about the o-ring failure, you have to remember that the orbiter itself didn’t explode. It was torn apart by aerodynamic forces.
The failing o-ring burned through an aft connection point between the SRB and the ET, and into the ET itself. When that connection point failed, the SRB shifted and cause the whole shuttle stack (SRB’s, ET, and orbiter) to rotate at just under Mach 2. These forces caused the internal structures in the ET to fail, and the shuttle to come loose and ripped it apart.
As the ET began to fail, the SRB’s broke free and continued to fly. There was some ignition of the liquid fuel from the ET, which you can see in the video and pics. However, most of what you see is the liquid fuels in the ET instantaneously flashing into gaseous vapor as the internal tanks rupture. That’s why you see very little fire and a huge cloud of white vapor.
Because the orbiter was ripped apart, there was very little fire damage, and they were able to recover some very large sections intact. Including the crew compartment. The History Channel just last month found a very large section of the orbiter on the sea floor while diving for a shipwreck.
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