Challenger: The Final Flight

President Richard Nixon authorises development of the Space Shuttle, a reusable spacecraft that will transform the space frontier. NASA introduces 35 persons chosen after a positive campaign encourages women and minorities to become astronauts. Thousands witness the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981, in the first American spaceflight for six years. NASA management tries to convey the shuttle is a safe vehicle that flies like a commercial aircraft, despite the tremendous risks involved. Regardless of many close calls over the years, the success of the Apollo program breeds a streak of arrogance within the organisation.

Four members of the 1978 Astronaut Class ended up on the Challenger crew: Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, and Ellison Onizuka are profiled in this episode.

Christa McAuliffe is named the winner of the Teacher in Space competition following a nationwide search conducted by NASA under the direction of President Ronald Reagan. Engineers at Morton Thiokol start seeing erosion inside the solid rocket boosters (SRB) and part of an O-ring burned off. It is a significant concern and when the problem persists, the engineers feel it is not being effectively dealt with. Judgement being it not risky enough, Lawrence Mulloy issues a waiver they will fly as is. Under the pressure of a demanding schedule, and in order to preserve its budget, nobody is willing to ground the fleet.

Other STS-51-L crew members, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, and Michael Smith are profiled in this episode.

After consecutive scrubbed launches for STS-51-L, NASA has a program assessment review with representatives from all subcontractors to discuss what going down to 22 °F the night before will mean. The people most knowledgeable of the O-ring problem make a presentation during a teleconference with NASA, recommending not launching and NASA not do so below 53 degrees. Mulloy is angry at what he considers an irrational decision, making an intimidating comment which manipulates Thiokol into changing their minds. Cold overnight temperatures and engineers at Kennedy Space Center switching on the spigots on the launch tower sees icicles form on the service structure. After a two-hour delay, during which the shuttle stack is inspected and experts in the mission evaluation room run calculations and conclude ice will not hit the orbiter, Challenger is finally cleared for launch.

In the wake of the Challenger disaster, Reagan speaks to the nation about the tragedy from the Oval Office. With NASA officials making false statements during the investigation, budget analyst Richard Cook leaks confidential information regarding the SRBs. Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman plays a key role in the inquest, doing a demonstration which proves O-rings lack resilience when at a temperature of 32 degrees. After a four-month investigation, the Rogers Commission returns its verdict of a "fatally-flawed" decision process, stating a faulty rubber seal on an SRB, along with an attitude of NASA that is just as to blame. NASA goes to fly again after a 32-month hiatus and America's return to space is confirmed when mission control instructs Discovery's commander to "go at throttle up" and the redesigned SRBs successfully separate from the external tank a few moments later.