ROCKETBOOSTER from escaping. The seal had failed, because the flame seen duringthe flight was gas being burnt.There were a few causes that could have lead to joint seal failure. Thesecauses were the joint seal could have been damaged or contaminated duringassembly of the Solid Rocket Booster. Second, There may have been a gapopening because when pressure is applied, the gap between the joints open.The cause for the explosion was the failure of the right Solid RocketBooster aft joint sealing, most likely due to the extremely cold temperature on themorning January 28, 1986. Out of the two Solid Rocket Boosters that were used,the one that was in the extreme cold was the one that failed. O-rings when theyare cold do not move as quickly as ones that are warm. And, if the O-rings werenearly frozen in place during ignition, the gases burnt the O-rings and producedthe black smoke. Challenger left the launch pad and headed for space. Duringflight the O-rings continued to not seal the joint, and the gases leaked through theaft field joint. The flame grew larger and later blew Challenger up. ...
