Complete transcript of CHALLENGER'S last flight...
(following times in minutes and seconds)
1:56 - Nesbitt: "Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction."
2:01 - Ground control officer: "Flight, GC, negative downlink."
Greene: "Copy."
2:08 - Nesbitt: "We have no downlink."
2:20 - TV tracking camera: falling bits of debris create white contrails arching through the blue sky. A larger object, trailing a thin cloud of vapor, plummets toward the ocean.
2:25 - FIDO: "Flight, FIDO."
Greene: "Go ahead."
FIDO: "RSO (range safety officer) reports vehicle exploded."
Greene (long pause): "Copy. FIDO, can we get any reports from recovery forces?"
FIDO: "Stand by."
2:45 - Greene: "GC, all operators, contingency procedures in effect."
2:50 - Nesbitt: "We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. The flight director confirms that. We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point."
3:03 - Greene: "FIDO, flight..."
FIDO: "Go ahead."
Greene: "LSO and recovery forces, any contacts?"
3:09 - Nesbitt: "Contingency procedures are in effect..."
FIDO: "We're working with them, flight."
Greene: "OK."
3:22 - Nesbitt: "We will report more as we have information available. Again, to repeat, we have a report relayed through the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. We are now looking at all the contingency operations and awaiting word from any recovery forces in the downrange field."
3:25 - TV tracking camera: The first pieces of debris can be seen splashing into the ocean.
3:53 - FIDO: "Flight, FIDO, for what it's worth, the filter shows 'em in the water."
Greene: "Copy."
3:58 - Challenger's crew cabin smashes into the Atlantic Ocean at about 200 mph. The astronauts, still strapped in their seats, experience a braking force of 200 times normal gravity. The crew cabin disintegrates and settles to the bottom 100 feet below.
4:15 - Television tracking camera closeup shows ocean surface east of Patrick Air Force Station. A large cloud of ruddy brown smoke hangs over surface of water as objects splash on impact nearby. The cloud probably was caused by hydrazine rocket fuel from wreckage that hit the water.
4:27 - Greene: "FIDO, flight. ... FIDO flight."
FIDO: "Go ahead."
Greene: "Did the RSO's have an impact point?"
FIDO: "Stand by."
5:03 - Nesbitt: "This is mission control, Houston. We have no additional word at this time."
5:05 - FIDO: "Flight, FIDO."
Greene: "Go ahead."
FIDO: "The vacuum IP (impact point) is 28.64 North, 80.28 West."
Greene: "How does that stack with the solid (rocket) recovery forces?" (Greene is referring to the Liberty Star and the Freedom Star, two NASA ships on station in the Atlantic to recover Challenger's boosters after a normal launch.)
FIDO: "We're still talking to them."
Greene: "OK."
5:24 - Nesbitt: "Reports from the flight dynamics officer indicate that the vehicle apparently exploded and that impact in the water (was) at a point approximately 28.64 degrees North, 80.28 degrees West."
5:36 - TV tracking camera: A dark, irregularly shaped piece of debris - thought to be one of Challenger's wings - cartwheels down from the sky and splashes into the Atlantic. It is the largest piece of Challenger seen on TV impacting in the ocean.
5:46 - Nesbitt: "We are awaiting verification as to the location of the recovery forces in the field to see what may be possible at this point and we will keep you advised as further information is available. This is mission control."
6:15 - NASA television switches from ocean views to the grandstand area at the press site. A large cloud of white smoke remains visible towering into the sky, twisted by winds aloft and slowly dissipating. Small, helical streamers mark contrails of the solid rocket boosters.
6:41 - Greene: "OK, everybody stay off the telephones, make sure you maintain all your data, start pulling it together."
7:17 - Greene: "Flight, FIDO..."
FIDO: "FIDO, flight, go ahead sir."
Greene: "Are the LSO's on the loop?"
FIDO: "We can get 'em."
Greene: "Get 'em up on the loop, please."
LSO (coordinating recovery activity; identity unknown): "Yes sir, this is the LSO."
Greene: "OK, are there any forces headed out that way?"
LSO: "Yes sir. DOD (Department of Defense) LSO reports that all ... forces have been scrambled and they are on their way."
Greene: "OK, do we have an ETA?"
LSO: "Negative, sir."
8:00 - Greene conducts a poll of his flight controllers to determine if any data indicates what may have gone wrong.
Greene: "Booster, flight."
Booster: "Flight, booster."
Greene: "Did you see anything?"
Booster: "Nothing, sir, I looked at all the turbine temps were perfect (sic), right on the prediction. All the redlines were in good shape."
Greene: "RMU?"
Remote manipulator system, mechanical and upper stage systems officer K.A. Reiley: "We looked good, flight."
Greene: "ECOM? ECOM, flight."
Electrical, environmental, consumables and mechanical systems engineer John Rector: "Flight, ECOM, we looked normal."
Greene: "DPS?"
Data processing systems engineer A.F. Algate: "All our data's normal, flight."
Greene: "PROP?"
Propulsion systems engineer A.J. Ceccacci: "Everything looked good, flight."
Greene: "GNC?"
Guidance, navigation and control systems engineer J.W. Bantle: "Flight, the roll maneuver looked fine, what we saw of it. We were on our way decreasing roll rate as we lost data."
Greene: "Copy."
8:03 - NASA select television shows launch pad 39-B with smoke still hanging over the mobile launch platform.
8:37 - NASA select television focuses on a small parachute seen slowly drifting down out to sea.
9:11 - FIDO: "That's, uh, probably a paramedic." Later it is determined that this is the nose cap to one of the solid rocket boosters swinging from its drogue parachute.
9:19 - Nesbitt: "This is mission control, Houston. We are coordinating with recovery forces in the field. Range safety equipment, recovery vehicles intended for the recovery of the SRBs in the general area."
9:36 - Greene: "LSO, flight. LSO, flight..."
Nesbitt: "Those parachutes believed to be paramedics going into that area..."
FIDO: "We're getting them, flight."
Nesbitt: "...To repeat, we had an apparently normal ascent with the data..."
LSO: "This is LSO on flight loop."
Greene: "Rog, are you getting any inputs?"
LSO: "Sir, we've got a Jolly 1 (helicopter) on route right now. We've got ships on the way and we've got a C-130 on the way out."
Greene: "Rog."
9:41 - Nesbitt: "...coming from all positions being normal up through approximately time of main engine throttle back up to 104 percent. At about approximately a minute or so into the flight, there was an apparent explosion. The flight dynamics officer reported that tracking reported that the vehicle had exploded and impact into the water in an area approximately located at 28.64 degrees North, 80.28 degrees West, recovery forces are proceeding to the area including ships and a C-130 aircraft. Flight controllers reviewing their data here in mission control. We will provide you with more information as it becomes available. This is mission control, Houston."
11:05 - NASA select television shows the interior of mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Covey and astronaut Frederick Gregory sit silently at the Capcom console, obviously stunned.
11:39 - LSO: "Flight, LSO."
Greene: "Go ahead."
LSO: "Uh, Jolly's have not been cleared in yet, there's still debris coming down."
Greene: "Copy. Who's controlling this operation, please?"
LSO: "S & R (search and recovery) forces out of Patrick (Air Force Base)."
Greene: "Rog. Do we have a coordination loop with those people?"
LSO: "We're working with the SOC on DDMS coord right now." He is referring to a radio network used by Defense Department personnel.
LSO: "Flight, LSO."
Greene: LSO..."
LSO: "Would you like us to try to get up on DDMS coord also?"
Greene: Yes. GC, flight."
GC: "Flight, GC."
Greene: "Take that loop into one of the playback loops please, internal to the building only."
GC: "I didn't copy what you said."
Greene: "DDMS coord, patch it into one of the playback loops internal to the building."
GC: "Copy."
12:37 - Greene: "GC, flight."
GC: "Flight, GC."
Greene: "Checkpoint status, have we taken one?"
GC: "Negative."
Greene: "Take one now."
GC: "Copy."
13:27 - GC: "All flight controllers, hold inputs, lock checkpoint in progress." This is a procedure to take a "snapshot" of all computer data recorded so far to ensure its recovery for documentation.
14:24 - Greene: LSO, flight."
LSO: "LSO here, sir."
Greene: "Any updates?"
LSO: "No sir. No sir, nothing to report."
15:06 - Greene: "Operators, contingency plan copies are coming to each console position. If you have an FCOH (flight control operations handbook) you can start on the checklist, page 27 dash 4, that's page 27-4. Don't reconfigure your console, take hard copies of all your displays, make sure you protect any data source you have."
LSO: "Flight, LSO."
Greene: "LSO?"
LSO: "Looks like about 50 minutes, five zero minutes, before the helicopters are cleared in because of debris."
Greene: "Fifty minutes from what time, LSO?"
LSO: "OK, from the time of the explosion."
21:53 - Nesbitt: "This is mission control, Houston. Repeating the information that we have at this time. We had an apparently nominal liftoff this morning at 11:38 Eastern time. The ascent phase appeared normal through approximately the completion of the roll program and throttle down and engine throttle back to 104 percent. At that point, we had an apparent explosion. Subsequent to that, the tracking crews reported to the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle appeared to have exploded and that we had an impact in the water down range at a location approximately 28.64 degrees North, 80.28 degrees west.
"At that time, the data was lost with the vehicle. According to a poll by the flight director, Jay Greene, of the positions here in mission control, there were no anomalous indications, no indications of problems with engines or with the SRBs or with any of the other systems at that moment through the point at which we lost data. Again, this is preliminary information. It is all that we have at the moment and we will keep you advised as other information becomes available. We had, there are recovery forces in the general area. Others being deployed, including aircraft and ships. We saw what we believed to be paramedics parachuting into impact area and we have no additional word at this point. We will keep you advised as details become available to us. This is mission control, Houston."
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