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[Space and Aviation] Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Report to the President: Report at a Glance. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1986. First edition. Volume I, totaling approximately 30 pages, which includes the main findings. This abbreviated summary of the Report to the President by the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident offers a concise and accessible overview of the findings surrounding the catastrophic failure of STS-51-L, which disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members aboard. Commonly known as the Rogers Commission Report, this document distills the conclusions of a body convened by President Ronald Reagan and chaired by former Secretary of State William P. Rogers, with members including astronauts Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride. This "Report at a Glance" was issued for broader circulation and comprehension, a key part of the Commission s goal "to document our findings and make recommendations for your consideration." The pamphlet opens with a solemn "In Memoriam" page, bearing the official crew portrait of the Challenger astronauts, including Commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith Resnik, and Ronald E. McNair, and Payload Specialists Christa McAuliffe and Gregory B. Jarvis. Beneath the image appears a poignant quote from Reagan s televised address: "The future is not free: the story of all human progress is one of a struggle against all odds. It was built by men and women like our seven star voyagers, who answered a call beyond duty." A letter from Rogers to President Reagan dated June 6, 1986, reaffirms the national pain and resolve: "The nation s task now is to move ahead to return to safe space flight. There could be no more fitting tribute to the Challenger crew than to do so." The core of the report identifies a systemic failure in NASA s risk assessment and engineering culture. The immediate cause of the explosion, detailed in Chapter IV, was "a combustion gas leak through the right Solid Rocket Motor at field joint," attributed to O-ring failure exacerbated by the unusually cold temperatures on launch day. The report states bluntly: "The consensus of the Commission. is that the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger was caused by a failure in the joint between the two lower segments of the right Solid Rocket Motor." A diagram on the facing page maps acronyms and component systems central to understanding the shuttle s propulsion, including ET (External Tank), LOX (Liquid Oxygen), and SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine). Findings were unflinching: "Launch site activities. were not considered as direct causes of the accident," yet "weaknesses in NASA s decision-making structure" were. This offering, Volume I, contains the report which summarizes the main findings and appendices A-D, while Volumes II and III contain the rest of the appendices, and Volumes IV and V contain hearings of the Presidential Commission. Light foxing to cover, small owner s name written on upper right. Interior pages clean and well-preserved. Overall very good condition.
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