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After the explosion

Broadcast Date: Sept. 28, 1988

It is two years after the shuttle Challenger exploded, killing seven astronauts. Also destroyed was one Canadarm. Canada's aerospace industry is still getting back on its feet. "Things came to a stop," after the tragedy, a sombre Christopher Trump of Spar Aerospace says in this CBC Television news clip. Now, though, the space business is starting to look up again.

Tomorrow, Spar will send part of its satellite system to space on the shuttle Discovery. Also, Canadian firms have signed a deal with the United States to help build the new international space station. Canada's space program, Trump says, is a "beacon," that keeps the brightest young minds in the country.

After the explosion

• The shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff on Jan. 28, 1986. The astronauts killed were: Francis Scobee; Michael Smith; Judith Resnik; Ellison Onizuka; Ronald McNair; Gregory Jarvis; and teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian in space. The mission, with several scientific experiments aboard, was to have lasted six days and 34 minutes. The cause of the explosion was determined to be an O-ring failure in the right solid rocket booster.

• An O-ring seals fluid into place in aerospace, nuclear and bio-medical machinery. After the Challenger tragedy, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. helped NASA by developing a new tester that detects flaws in O-rings. In 1994 the device was honoured by the editors of R&D Magazine, and 75 science experts as one of the year's most technologically significant new products.

• On the mission's third day, the Challenger crew was to have used the Canadarm to release a Spartan satellite intended to study the origins of the solar wind. The arm, serial number 302, had flown on four previous missions starting in April 1984. On its maiden flight, the arm was used to grab the Solar Max satellite for repairs. It was replaced with unit 202 in 1993.

• Dreams of an International Space Station — a permanent outpost in space — became a reality in 1993. That's when U.S. President Ronald Reagan committed his country to building such a station in the earth's orbit and invited other countries to participate. Canadian robotics are currently (2004) helping to build and maintain the station.

After the explosion

Medium: Television

Program: CBC News

Broadcast Date: Sept. 28, 1988

Guest(s): Ralph Green, Norm Pothier, Christopher Trump

Reporter: Paula Lenardon

Duration: 3:23

Last updated:
Jan. 19, 2004