Challenger transcript history
BWelch
Challenger transcripts, and in the hopes that a detailed listing of events
will help quell a persistent myth. There are no "partial" Challenger
transcripts, and there are no voice tapes recorded after the breakup of
the vehicle. Even ten years after the accident, this continues to be the
source of myth and speculation. It probably will continue to be for some
years to come. I hesitate to even revisit the topic, but the continued
misinformation, including completely false stories appearing on many
"news" radio stations around the country in recent months, suggest that
perhaps a detailed accounting of what did and did not happen will at least
arm some responsible souls out there with the real data. I hope some of
you will save the following and pass it on in the weeks, months and years
to come when someone on the 'net asks about it:
The Challenger onboard intercom was recorded on one of two operational
recorders (hereafter, "ops" recorders) aboard the orbiter.
Shuttle orbiters have several onboard components with memory-saving
capacity: the General Purpose Computers (GPC), Ops recorders, a payload
recorder, and a Modular Auxiliary Data System (MADS) recorder. Personal
cassette recorders are available to crews for note taking, but it is
thought that they were not in use during Challenger's launch.
The ops recorders store Shuttle ascent telemetry data and air-ground voice
channels. Ops recorder 1 records the 60 kilobits/second (KBPS) data
stream from the three main engines; Ops recorder 2 records at 128 KBPS the
Shuttle downlink/downlist data and the two air-ground channels. Circa
1986, the Ops recorders were played back after reaching orbit to bridge
gaps in real-time telemetry to ground stations or through Tracking and
Data Relay Satellite coverage.
On March 19, 1986, NASA announced that four of five Challenger General
Purpose Computers (GPC) had been recovered from the Atlantic and moved to
the IBM Federal Systems Division facility in Owego, NY. The GPCs were
cleaned under controlled conditions and submerged in deionized water at
Kennedy Space Center prior to air shipment March 16, 1986, to Owego. The
GPC ferrite core memories were examined for any possible residual data --
a process that at the time was expected to take several months. This
information was in the form of data--not onboard voice--and this path was
pursued to add any possible additional information to the accident
investigation. Many weeks later, it was found that the additional data
frames did not measurably add to the information already gathered during
the investigation.
Both Ops recorders and the MADS recorder were recovered and were taken to
the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, for cleaning in clear,
cold water and for subsequent drying in a thermal vacuum chamber. The
cleaning/drying of recorder tapes took about two weeks, after which the
tapes were taken to the Johnson Space Center for extraction of any usable
data.
On April 30, 1986, JSC announced that it had so far been unable to extract
data from the tapes. "Because the long exposure to salt water has
deteriorated the tapes such that they cannot be unwound from the reels
without total loss of the data, all attempts to date to recover
information from then have been unsuccessful." JSC also reported that one
of the personal cassette recorders available to crew members for
note-taking had been recovered, but it was still in its stowage container,
indicating it had not been used, and the recording tape was too severely
damaged to be played back.
On July 16, 1986, JSC announced that additional efforts had been made to
salvage the tapes from the Ops recorders. The tapes underwent treatment
at IBM's facility in Tucson, Arizona, to remove magnesium oxide caused by
seawater reaction with magnesium tape reels. The tapes were first treated
with diluted nitric acid, and then rinsed in methanol. Earlier treatment
immediately after recovery had included submersion in clear, chilled water
until methods for salvaging the tape could be devised.
Through these types of intensive efforts, it ultimately was possible to
listen to the tapes and provide a transcript of them to the media. The
transcript was made available on July 28, 1986 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
Initially, NASA had concluded that the crew was unaware of the events
preceeding the breakup of the Challenger. But detailed analysis revealed
a final comment, providing "the first potential indication of awareness on
their part at the moment when all data was lost at 73 seconds into the
flight," NASA announced. That comment was "Uh oh," attributed to Pilot
Michael Smith.
There is no transcript after the 73-second point because once the
Challenger began to break up, power was lost and the recorders stopped
running.
Out of respect for the families of the crew, NASA felt strongly that the
voice tape audio should not be released. A transcript was released and
the contents were widely reported for several days. Later, the New York
Times sued NASA for release of the tape audio itself, a case which
ultimately went to the Supreme Court, with the court ruling in NASA's
favor.
In the July 28 news release announcing the transcript and the release of a
report from astronaut Dr. Joseph Kerwin on the cause of death of the crew
members, Rear Admiral Richard Truly, then head of NASA's Office of Space
Flight, thanked all of the people involved in the massive salvage effort.
"Their work deserves the admiration and thanks of the American people, and
I believe their efforts have now closed this chapter of the Challenger
loss," he said. "We have now turned our full efforts to the future, but
we will never forget our seven friends who gave their lives to America's
space frontier."
Brian Welch
Chief, News & Information
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC
Francis A. Ney, Jr.
> Brian Welch
> Chief, News & Information
> NASA Headquarters
> Washington, DC
So, now that there are 'official' NASA information sources on the 'net, when
are you folk going to stop leaning on the contractors to keep their employees
off?
---
Frank Ney WV/EMT-B VA/EMT-A N4ZHG LPWV NRA(L) GOA CCRKBA LEAA JPFO
Sponsor, BATF Abuse Page http://www.access.digex.net/~croaker/batfabus.html
"A wise man once pointed out that the American eagle eats carrion, never picks
on anything its own size and will soon be extinct. That being so, perhaps
Americans ought to select a symbol more in keeping with their current
condition, like a milked cow, a sheared sheep, a plucked chicken, or a
slaughtered steer."
- L. Neil Smith, speaking as W.W. Curringer, _Pallas_
Keith Cowing
bwe...@hqops.hq.nasa.gov (BWelch) wrote:
> I am posting this message in response to the continued interest in the
> Challenger transcripts, and in the hopes that a detailed listing of events
> will help quell a persistent myth. There are no "partial" Challenger
> transcripts, and there are no voice tapes recorded after the breakup of
> the vehicle.
<snip> <snip>
> I believe their efforts have now closed this chapter of the Challenger
> loss," he said. "We have now turned our full efforts to the future, but
> we will never forget our seven friends who gave their lives to America's
> space frontier."
>
> Brian Welch
> Chief, News & Information
> NASA Headquarters
> Washington, DC
Well put , Brian.
Now, to all you faux Challenger tape groupies:
They were heros. Treat them as such.
Virtually all that is known has been released. What little has not been
released is of no consequence.
Let them be.
Honor them (as they would have wanted us to) by looking forward to what
lies ahead as we reach out to the stars, with ships that will eventually
bear their names, instead of feeding your own selfish curiosity by
dwelling on ghoulish minutae surrounding the effects of a 200+ mph impact
on the human body. Answer: It killed them. We all know that.
What else is to be served by all of this perseveration regarding tapes
that never existed?
Keith
J. Porter Clark
I've seen of the handling of the tapes recovered from Challenger. I
was personally involved in the tape recovery effort and have only one
or two very minor clarifications.
>Both Ops recorders and the MADS recorder were recovered and were taken to
>the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, for cleaning in clear,
>cold water and for subsequent drying in a thermal vacuum chamber. The
>cleaning/drying of recorder tapes took about two weeks, after which the
>tapes were taken to the Johnson Space Center for extraction of any usable
>data.
The payload recorder and the two mass memory units (despite the name,
these were tape recorders) were also taken to MSFC. It was highly
unlikely that there was anything useful on the mass memory units.
We didn't clean and dry *all* of the tapes. The MADS tape was the only
one that went through the entire cycle. The other tapes were obviously
more damaged than what we were able to handle, and they were only
superficially washed and then left in cold water.
We had developed a means of recovering data from tapes that had been
soaked in sea water shortly after the STS-4 launch, during which both
SRB's had failed parachutes and plunged into the Atlantic at a high
rate of speed. At the time, it was thought that it might be worth the
effort to recover the DFI tape recorders then being flown on the SRB's,
and we set out to determine if the data could be recovered and how.
Shortly after we had perfected the technique, the failure mechanism
responsible for the failed parachute deployment was determined
conclusively, and it was decided that it would be too expensive to
recover the recorders, which were at a depth too great for conventional
recovery methods.
The MADS recorder was a larger cousin of the SRB DFI recorders, and
therefore the MADS data recovery offered few surprises.
>On April 30, 1986, JSC announced that it had so far been unable to extract
>data from the tapes. "Because the long exposure to salt water has
>deteriorated the tapes such that they cannot be unwound from the reels
>without total loss of the data, all attempts to date to recover
>information from then have been unsuccessful." JSC also reported that one
>of the personal cassette recorders available to crew members for
>note-taking had been recovered, but it was still in its stowage container,
>indicating it had not been used, and the recording tape was too severely
>damaged to be played back.
We were actually able to salvage the tape from the MADS recorder. It
had aluminum tape reels, and the tapes were not damaged too severely.
However, there was no voice data on this tape.
--
J. Porter Clark j...@hammer.msfc.nasa.gov
NASA/MSFC Flight Data Systems Branch
stephen voss
>Through these types of intensive efforts, it ultimately was possible to
>listen to the tapes and provide a transcript of them to the media. The
>transcript was made available on July 28, 1986 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
>Initially, NASA had concluded that the crew was unaware of the events
>preceeding the breakup of the Challenger. But detailed analysis revealed
>a final comment, providing "the first potential indication of awareness on
>their part at the moment when all data was lost at 73 seconds into the
>flight," NASA announced. That comment was "Uh oh," attributed to Pilot
>Michael Smith.
>
>There is no transcript after the 73-second point because once the
>Challenger began to break up, power was lost and the recorders stopped
>running.
>
>Out of respect for the families of the crew, NASA felt strongly that the
>voice tape audio should not be released. A transcript was released and
>the contents were widely reported for several days. Later, the New York
>Times sued NASA for release of the tape audio itself, a case which
>ultimately went to the Supreme Court, with the court ruling in NASA's
>favor.
>Brian Welch
>Chief, News & Information
>NASA Headquarters
>Washington, DC
So let me get this right youre not going to release the part of tapes because
Michael Smith says "uh-oh"? Basically under all your technojargon it still
stinks like a coverup.
If thats all he says and the tape stops, then release the tape.
I sincerely do not believe that the families are going to be traumatized by
hearing someone say "uh-oh" and if thats all that was said.
Why bother fighting all the way to the supreme court to keep the tapes
hidden?
You government types dont understand everytime you do stupid stuff like this
even when youre telling the truth people dont believe you.
stephen voss
>Now, to all you faux Challenger tape groupies:
>
>They were heros. Treat them as such.
Listen, the Challenger diaaster was probably one of the most traumatic events
in my life. They were heroes to me and I still got choked up watching the
video of launch two weeks ago. I want closure. I want to know everything that
happened so I can finally consign in my mind to history.
>Virtually all that is known has been released. What little has not been
>released is of no consequence.
Then release it,if the remainder of the stuff is of no importance,then why
keep it hidden? Then why fight to the US supreme court to keep it hidden?
>Let them be.
No,you mean leave NASA alone.
>Honor them (as they would have wanted us to) by looking forward to what
>lies ahead as we reach out to the stars, with ships that will eventually
>bear their names, instead of feeding your own selfish curiosity by
>dwelling on ghoulish minutae surrounding the effects of a 200+ mph impact
>on the human body. Answer: It killed them. We all know that.
I thought NASA said all that was on the tape was "uh oh"? I also thought what
has not been seen was "of no consequence"? The more you try to divert
attention the more mistakes you make.
>What else is to be served by all of this perseveration regarding tapes
>that never existed?
>
If thats true then release everything you do have,and lets be over with it.
As to what gives me the right. Any govt recordings on the shuttle are public
property and cannot be restricted without a damn good reason. After 10 years
being nice to the families is not good enough reason anymore.
The Yellow Power Ranger
>>Now, to all you faux Challenger tape groupies:
>>They were heros. Treat them as such.
*polite applause*
>Listen, the Challenger diaaster was probably one of the most traumatic events
>in my life. They were heroes to me and I still got choked up watching the
>video of launch two weeks ago. I want closure. I want to know everything that
>happened so I can finally consign in my mind to history.
I was in 4th grade when it happened. As long as I live, I will never forget
that day. But, it is in the past. Chances are, you already know everything
that happened. You're not asking for closure. You're asking for a recording
of someone's death. Personally, I find that downright sickening.
>>Virtually all that is known has been released. What little has not been
>>released is of no consequence.
>Then release it,if the remainder of the stuff is of no importance,then why
>keep it hidden? Then why fight to the US supreme court to keep it hidden?
Because they refuse to pour salt in this country's wounds. Nothing can be
gained by releasing anything else.
>I thought NASA said all that was on the tape was "uh oh"? I also thought what
>has not been seen was "of no consequence"? The more you try to divert
>attention the more mistakes you make.
This isn't some grand conspiracy, don't try to make it into one.
>As to what gives me the right. Any govt recordings on the shuttle are public
>property and cannot be restricted without a damn good reason. After 10 years
>being nice to the families is not good enough reason anymore.
Respect for the Challenger crew and their families is a good enough reason.
It will always be a good enough reason.
Rob Curtis
Sophomore, Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Tech
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Curtis | _ /|
AE Sophomore | \'o.O'
gt8...@prism.gatech.edu | =(___)= ACK!
HFWG Regional Director | U PTHFT!
Wisenheimer | http://fulmer33.residence.gatech.edu
***********May your leaps be boundful and your fives be high**********
Alex Lane
: [...] I want closure. I want to know everything that
: happened so I can finally consign in my mind to history.
Um, why do I get the feeling that, were a 30-minute transcript to be
released today, that you would still feel there was a lack of closure,
and continue to demand more, more and MORE to satisfy a rather morbid
curiosity?
Cheers...
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Alex Lane KD6JJA | finger/email: alex...@cris.com
POB 580333 | voice (713) 480-0948; fax -6137
Houston TX 77258 | PGP fingerprint: 7FDB06E2478479B4 323CA94865AA5BC2
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bob Kurtz
gt8...@prism.gatech.edu (The Yellow Power Ranger) wrote:
> [snip]
> I was in 4th grade when it happened.
> [snip]
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Rob Curtis | _ /|
> AE Sophomore | \'o.O'
> gt8...@prism.gatech.edu | =(___)= ACK!
> HFWG Regional Director | U PTHFT!
> Wisenheimer | http://fulmer33.residence.gatech.edu
Fourth grade. Ouch.
But at least he knows who Bill the Cat is!
--
Bob Kurtz (ku...@mustang.nrl.navy.mil)
Hughes STX Corp., US Naval Research Lab, Washington DC
stephen voss
>Um, why do I get the feeling that, were a 30-minute transcript to be
>released today, that you would still feel there was a lack of closure,
>and continue to demand more, more and MORE to satisfy a rather morbid
>curiosity?
A transript is not independently verifiable. A tape is. I dont want to listen
to the tape myself. I want several independent news sources (the media) to be
able to their job and report the facts. What do you mean more? How much more
is there than the complete uncensored truth. As US citizen asking for public
records I am entitled to everything. We know what happened in 1967 for
Apollo I. We know they suffered. But its history because the truth is known
and the past can be buried.
stephen voss
>I was in 4th grade when it happened. As long as I live, I will never forget
>that day. But, it is in the past. Chances are, you already know everything
>that happened. You're not asking for closure. You're asking for a recording
>of someone's death. Personally, I find that downright sickening.
Im not asking for your approval.
If you are right and we know everything,then theres no audio after the "uh oh"
and they can release the tape, no harm done. On the other hand if there is
more recordings then that means someone in the government is misleading the
public.
I find the concept of our government keeping us in the dark far more sickening
than asking for the release to an independent source (not me) of a copy of a
10 year old tape that is supposedly of "no consequence".
Supposedly releasing 911 tapes of people getting shot to death and grusome
crime scene photos and even opening the Adam Walsh files is ok but heaven
forbid that someone should ask for true independent verification of a tape.
Im not asking for autopsy photos,merely recordings be released to an
independent source. Obviously the NY times (a very mainstream respectable
newspaper) thought it was important enough to fight all the way to the US
supreme court.
>Nothing can be gained by releasing anything else.
How do you know? I dont think theres anything to be gained by holding back
information.
Im not saying its a conspiracy,merely it seems like deception. Remember this
is the same government that tried to stop the release of the Pentagon Papers
that proved vietnam was based on a lie because of "national security"
>Respect for the Challenger crew and their families is a good enough reason.
>It will always be a good enough reason.
In the first place any recordings on the challenger do not belong to crew or
the families. They belong to the U.S. government and they should be made
public record after a suitable period of time(10 years from the time of the
accident sounds good to me). We cannot let families of people involved set
government policy for all time.
Keith Cowing
Some how my name got left off of the message to which Voss responds. I am
adding another of his postings to get this all taken care of in one post
(see below):
> >Now, to all you faux Challenger tape groupies:
> >
> >They were heros. Treat them as such.
>
> Listen, the Challenger diaaster was probably one of the most traumatic events
> in my life. They were heroes to me and I still got choked up watching the
> video of launch two weeks ago. I want closure. I want to know everything that
> happened so I can finally consign in my mind to history.
Good, then replay your emotions and imagine how the families of these
people felt. And you want to parade the details of their last moments
around like some O.J. story on tabloid TV. Put yourself in their place
for a moment. I was in third grade when Kennedy was shot. It affected me
similarly. None the less, I don't have any need to see materials that the
Kennedy family has requested remain sealed. Your motives, as expressed,
are purely selfish.
> >Virtually all that is known has been released. What little has not been
> >released is of no consequence.
> Then release it,if the remainder of the stuff is of no importance,then why
> keep it hidden? Then why fight to the US supreme court to keep it hidden?
op cit.
> >Let them be.
> No,you mean leave NASA alone.
No, I do not mean that at all. NASA has problems, yes, but on this issue
I agree with them 2000%.
>
> >Honor them (as they would have wanted us to) by looking forward to what
> >lies ahead as we reach out to the stars, with ships that will eventually
> >bear their names, instead of feeding your own selfish curiosity by
> >dwelling on ghoulish minutae surrounding the effects of a 200+ mph impact
> >on the human body. Answer: It killed them. We all know that.
>
> I thought NASA said all that was on the tape was "uh oh"? I also thought what
> has not been seen was "of no consequence"? The more you try to divert
> attention the more mistakes you make.
>
> >What else is to be served by all of this perseveration regarding tapes
> >that never existed?
> >
>
> If thats true then release everything you do have,and lets be over with it.
>
> As to what gives me the right. Any govt recordings on the shuttle are public
> property and cannot be restricted without a damn good reason. After 10 years
> being nice to the families is not good enough reason anymore.
Then exercise your "rights" by writing your Congressman and Senator.
Demand hearings, file a FOIA.
*********Second Post*********
In article <4g1177$s...@news.icanect.net>, vo...@icanect.net (stephen voss) wrote:
> Supposedly releasing 911 tapes of people getting shot to death and grusome
> crime scene photos and even opening the Adam Walsh files is ok but heaven
> forbid that someone should ask for true independent verification of a tape.
And those people are sensationalistic ghouls getting their kicks and
making money off of other people's misfortune. You are no different by
perpetuating this issue and are looking to do exactly the same morbid
thing.
> Im not asking for autopsy photos,merely recordings be released to an
> independent source. Obviously the NY times (a very mainstream respectable
> newspaper) thought it was important enough to fight all the way to the US
> supreme court.
That doesn't mean that the NYT was acting any less inconsiderate than you are.
> >Nothing can be gained by releasing anything else.
> How do you know? I dont think theres anything to be gained by holding back
> information.
> Im not saying its a conspiracy,merely it seems like deception. Remember this
> is the same government that tried to stop the release of the Pentagon Papers
> that proved vietnam was based on a lie because of "national security"
Did it ever occur to you that this might be the truth - that there is
nothing else to release!
> >Respect for the Challenger crew and their families is a good enough reason.
> >It will always be a good enough reason.
I agree. Besides, there is nothing else to release.
> In the first place any recordings on the challenger do not belong to crew or
> the families. They belong to the U.S. government and they should be made
> public record after a suitable period of time(10 years from the time of the
> accident sounds good to me). We cannot let families of people involved set
> government policy for all time.
I am certainly glad that YOU are not the one setting government policy in
such matters otherwise the whole concept of privacy, to say nothing of
common decency, would be in jeopardy.
The crew members of Challenger were heros. Treat them as such.
___________
Grrrrr. Am I the only one to find this whole thread sickening? Or am I
just letting these people get to me?
stephen voss
I also accept the possibility there might be something on the tape too
horrible to release. In which a simple admission that the tapes contain stuff
that they dont want to release that they dont want to release to the public
because of the grusome or horrifying content and no Im not talking about the 3
seconds in which they say "uh oh".
I was informed that Apollo I had no tapes released,but most people know by now
that the three astronauts suffered for several minutes after the fire started
because nasa admitted it. disclosure of facts goes a long way towards trust.
NASA should either
1. admit that the remainder of the (tapes,on board recorder,etc) contain
material too grusome for public consumption (post t+73 seconds)
2. if the tapes only contain 3 more seconds including a brief "uh oh"
statement then release the tapes to an independent scientific group for study.
Rick Adams
: The crew members of Challenger were heros. Treat them as such.
Perhaps that is exactly what people are doing when they cling to improbable
rumors of the Challenger astronauts' last words. We want to know everything
about them, no matter how trivial or obsessive. I think I understand your
frustration, but perhaps in this way they are literally following your
oft-stated advice quoted above. I'm sure some of the "transcript" interest
is ghoulish, but I believe for some it is a desire to know absolutely
everything there is to learn about their heros, no matter how unpleasant.
If I still believed in the authenticity of the supposed "transcript," I
would not revere them any less.
--
Rick Adams rad...@winternet.com http://www.winternet.com/~radams/
David N. Levy
they played the tape. It was not particularly evident what was being
said, if anything, in those roughly 2 seconds of audio amid the static.
As a result, it was not terribly sensational to hear. I believe the
stir about the possibility of tapes existing after that moment
concerned private tape recorders carried by some of the non-pilot crew.
David N. Levy
Division of Molecular Genetics
Dana-Farber Cancer Insitute
Boston, MA 02115
david...@dfci.harvard.edu