Could the Challenger Disaster Have Been Prevented?
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
January 28, 1986. It's freezing in Central Florida, a historically cold day. That's bad news for citrus growers, and for NASA, which is scheduled to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger from Cape Canaveral this morning.
Engineers have ben cautioning NASA that cold temperatures can make space launches dangerous. And yet, NASA decides to move ahead. They consider it an "acceptable risk" and send seven astronauts hurtling into the sky.
What went wrong with the Space Shuttle Challenger? And if engineers knew what could happen, why wasn’t this disaster avoided?
Special thanks to Adam Higginbotham, author of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space.
To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What kind of weekend are you in the mood for? |
| 0:03.0 | Well, with Disney Plus, anything is possible. |
| 0:06.0 | Whether that be two days of twists and turns with only murders in the building, |
| 0:11.0 | drama and fine dining with The Bear, |
| 0:13.0 | or a journey back to feudal Japan with Shogun. |
| 0:17.0 | January weekends just got better with Disney Plus. |
| 0:20.0 | Tap the banner to learn more. 18 plus subscription required. Learn better with Disney Plus. Tap the banner to learn more. |
| 0:22.1 | 18 plus subscription required. |
| 0:24.0 | Learn more at Disneyplus.com. |
| 0:28.4 | Adobe Express is the quick and easy create anything app. |
| 0:32.6 | It has taken my content to the next level, |
| 0:34.9 | making it simple to create everything I need to promote my business. |
| 0:38.5 | From Instagram and TikTok posts to logos and flyers, all in just a few clicks. |
| 0:44.3 | Build your brand with Adobe Express. |
| 0:47.1 | Search for Adobe Express to find out more and get the app for free. |
| 0:51.1 | Adobe Express, the quick and easy create anything app. |
| 0:56.8 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 1:02.7 | History this week. |
| 1:04.8 | January 28, 1986. |
| 1:08.6 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 1:12.9 | It's early morning in central Florida, and it's freezing. |
| 1:19.3 | In fact, it is below freezing, 18 degrees Fahrenheit, way colder than it normally gets here, even in January. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.