Challenger: Voo Final

Many born in the 90's have no recollection of a time when space exploration failed. This documentary looks at the successes of NASA in terms of inclusion during the 1970's and 80's. Then looked at how NASA got greedy and tried to do too many things at once, 7 great people were sacrificed in this greediness in January of 1986.

The facts that are known about this inexcusable disaster are all over the net. If you are interested in the technical aspects of the accident read the Rogers Commission report.

This is the story of the Challenger disaster from the viewpoint of a lot of people that were there at the time. I found those views compelling and with all of that background information, by the fourth episode I felt like I was back in 1985. It was like I was right there, with all of those people.

Not exactly on topic but a bit of trivia: I worked for Morton Thiokol when the Challenger accident happened. There was a mandatory employee meeting the day after the disaster. We were all required to sign non-disclosure agreements. We were told that if we were caught saying ANYTHING, even the word Challenger, to ANYONE (even co-workers), we would be fired immediately.

I've seen every documentary on space and the Challenger that have been produced. Many were bad, some were good. This four part series is pretty good, covering familiar ground and likely a good refresher for anyone who lived through those times, or more beneficially for those younger people who are just raising their awareness and understanding of this troubling catastrophe.

The producers did use the "it's going to blow up" scenario as the dramatic leverage (e.g. cliffhanger) here. I think its overuse is justifiable, though, given the fact that if the NASA decision makers had listened to the whistleblowers and weighed the risks, the crew would have been pulled off Challenger until corrective design changes could be made (or at the very least, until a launch attempt in February when temperatures were above freezing could be attained).

One remarkable thing to note: Americans were proud of our accomplishments then, and the early footage of the shuttle launches proves it with various video segments showing people actually waving flags and saying how proud they were of their country. It is sad to think that that very footage seems so alien now, given how bad many citizens of America love to trash their own country.

Gripping, informative, and historically significant

I have spent much of my adult life avoiding thinking about this tragedy. It is a case study on how an organization can become wicked and its members essentially the epitome of evil.

For me it was just horribly sad to watch this and there is a prevalent sense of horror as events move toward the inevitable ending.

What made it worth watching for me was to learn about Feynman's role. I knew the outline of it but not the specifics. It's quite amazing.

What astonishes me is there are these awful, old, gross NASA administrators who are still totally unrepentant, although they are clearly and obviously to blame for what happened.