On the 28th January 1986, a shuttle Orbiter Challenger broke down only 73 seconds after lift-off. The significance of this event is that all seven astronauts on board died, as a result of this disaster it revolutionised NASA as it was one of the first and darkest tragedies. In contrast the shuttle was also a great achievement for NASA as it was the second shuttle to reach space and completed nine milestone missions. It was the tenth mission that completely changed the space programme. The disaster highlighted issues amongst the workforce as people lower down were afraid to voice their problems to the launch team. In addition to this the commission team has stated that the proposed flight was unsustainable due to the limited workforce which was a danger to the astronauts that could have easily been solved. Furthermore as a result of the disaster plans to fly civilians into space such as journalists were put aside for 22 years so that there would be a lower chance of casualties and to ensure safety. Upon lift-off the satellite launches changed from shuttle to reusable rockets. Astronauts no longer had to other duties such as repairing satellites and the Manned Manoeuvring Unit was not flown again to ensure their safety. Therefore the disaster taught NASA about how vulnerable the shuttles and aircraft can be, consequently they now know how to make space travel a lot safer. This disaster ensured NASA made huge changes to the space programme in terms of upgrading equipment and making future missions as safe as possible, so the team behind these missions were better at making life changing decisions.
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