The importance of acting upon concerns: 40 years since STS-51-L, 59 since Apollo 1, 23 since STS-107, and the future

• Francis Scobee, commander
• Michael Smith, pilot
• Ronald McNair, mission specialist 
• Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist 
• Judith Resnik, mission specialist 
• Gregory Jarvis, payload specialist 
• Christa McAuliffe, payload specialist and social studies teacher 

The hopes for the highly anticipated Teachers in Space program fell apart - these 7 astronauts were onboard the Challenger space shuttle on this day 40 years ago when its structure fell apart 73 seconds into flight. This mission saw the loss of middle and high school teacher Ms. McAuliffe, whose students (like many around the US) watched the incident on live television, as well as the first Asian America & person of Japanese descent to reach space.

While popular belief has it that they died in the explosion, investigation of the cabin indicates that some of them were conscious while they plummeted down to the sea, dying upon impact while they tried to activate emergency procedures manually. Further investigation showed that the o-ring seal failure that caused the incident could have been prevented by postponement of the mission, which engineers had urged for after testing of the o-rings had shown catastrophic flaws years before after exposure to cold temperatures.  

This ignorant organizational culture within NASA caused the other two catastrophes that occurred decades before and after:

The Apollo 1 incident (59 years and a day ago) had a different fatal design flaw during testing, one that its astronauts had repetitively warned against: the high flammability of the materials within the command module, including the high oxygen levels within the module. After a spark during testing, all three of the astronauts burned to death, asphyxiated, with two suits melted together. The astronauts and the surrounding crew were unable to open the hatch due to pressure differences, no actionable emergency measures were in place. The pad workers could only listen to their screams for help as they suffocated and burned. After insistence by their loved ones, the incident (AS-204) was named after the mission they were meant to fly as the pioneers of the Apollo program:

• Gus Grissom, command pilot
• Edward White II, senior pilot
• Roger Chaffee, pilot

And yet, these incidents were not limited to the previous millennium. In 2003, 23 years ago in a few days, the Columbia space shuttle did its best to save its crew upon reentry through the atmosphere: 

• Rick Husband, commander
• William McCool, pilot
• Michael Anderson, mission specialist
• Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist
• David Brown, mission specialist
• Laurel Clark, mission specialist
• Ilan Ramon, payload specialist
• containers of nematodes, experiment subjects (Survived!)

During takeoff, a piece of insulating foam was seen to come off, but was ignored: it's just some foam, how bad could it be? It resulted that the foam had struck a hole into the shuttle's heat shield in one wing, which NASA did not tell the crew as the new management did not see it as a major problem - the engineers did, and again they insisted that it be addressed, only to be ignored. During reentry, hot gases entered through the exposure in the wing, melting various essential systems and disintegrating the shuttle. Again, these astronauts tried their best to survive via manual intervention. It is unknown what exactly killed them, as there were many events that could have killed them: depressurization, injuries to the spine and head, molten metal, hot gas, wind-blast and shockwave which stripped the suits from their bodies thus exposing them to a low-oxygen atmosphere; all before actually striking earth in different US states. 

The worst part of this incident is that even after the foam strike, there were still opportunities of rescue: the mission could have been extended by a month to allow for the preparation of the Atlantis space shuttle for a rendezvous to safely bring the crew back; there was also the option of having the astronauts attempt to fill the hole with whatever supplies they had, but this was unlikely to succeed. Additionally, the investigations began and focused greatly on non-existent terrorist threats due to the recency of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, assuming that the shuttle had been struck deliberately - this was assumed due to the presence of the first Israeli astronaut (Ramon). This flight also saw the loss of the first Indian woman in space (Chawla), who was very popular and inspirational amongst Indian women. The time wasted on unfounded assumptions of terrorism during launch & after catastrophe, paired with the indifference shown to the foam strike, showed carelessness by management towards their crew. The priority of political agendas and fast mission data destroyed opportunities of rescue and prevention, showing an ineffective and dangerous command structure within the organization. 

With the upcoming Artemis II launch being only a few days after the anniversary of the last disaster, I'm nervous - has the organizational culture improved? Analysis of the heat shield from the crewless Artemis I launch showed unanticipated erosion due to gas buildup, and these are the same heat shields being used for Artemis II, with a redesign planned for Artemis III. The current fix is to adjust the trajectory of reentry to reduce exposure to the conditions that led to this erosion, which was ground-tested. Still, with a mission so significant as the first crewed lunar mission of the 21st century - the first lunar mission to feature a Canadian, a woman, and a black American - every precaution should be taken to ensure success. While no mission is definitively safe, a lot of people will be paying attention to this program's beginnings, and the four astronauts have high expectations to meet, so it behooves NASA to ensure maximum safety. 

Safe travels and best of luck to:

• Reid Wiseman, commander
• Victor Glove, pilot
• Christina Koch, mission specialist
• Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist

Sources: Challenger | Apollo 1 | Columbia | 

These are very simplified summaries of each disaster, with the most easily understandable information presented. I highly encourage readers to further research each one for a full picture, I recommend starting with the book linked for the Columbia source. 

Thank you for reading!