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The Seal Failure in the SRB That Doomed Challenger (2021)

Update 4-8-2024:   Should any readers want to learn how to do what I do (estimating performance of launch rockets or other space vehicles), ...

Update 4-8-2024: Should any readers want to learn how to do what I do (estimating performance of launch rockets or other space vehicles), be aware that I have created a series of short courses in how to go about these analyses, complete with effective tools for actually carrying it out. The delay unseating the ring, pushing it to the other side of the groove, and reseating it, almost guarantees that the compressed air leaks past it, so that booster hot gases and solids can reach the O-ring. Yet, something rather like it might even have worked for Columbia some years later: the 3 mid-deck occupants were still alive inside a tumbling cabin section as it approached impact near Tyler, Texas, well after the breakup during re-entry.

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