STS-93: During main engine ignition a golden pin used to plug an oxidizer post came loose and was ejected into the chamber wall of the right SSME causing a leak above the main combustion chamber. 5 seconds after liftoff an electrical short caused the shutdown of the center
Everyone knows about the Space Shuttle disasters of STS-51L and STS-107, but did you know there were many near misses throughout the program?
Let's talk about it in this thread. 🧵
Two near misses are relatively well known, STS-27 and STS-93. However, these are only scratching the surface of the issues that haunted the shuttle throughout its entire career.
Here's a (non-exhaustive) list of all the times a shuttle nearly experienced some sort of mission..
threatening failure or came close to doing so:
- STS-1: SRB overpressure wave damaged the bodyflap of the orbiter. Landing gear cover warped due to thermal damage, many missing tiles in non-crtical areas.
STS-2: Fuel cells failed leading to a truncated mission. SRB seal anomaly.
STS-6: More-than-acceptable tile loss and thermal damage.
STS-9: Landed with A.P.U on fire.
STS-41B: A chunk of frozen piss struck the OMS pod of Challenger, leading to significant tile damage.
STS-51D: Left outboard elevon experienced significant burn-through during re-entry. Right brake failed on landing leading to tire blowout.
STS-51F: Center SSME shutdown 5~ minutes into flight resulting in abort-to-orbit.
STS-61C: An error during fueling led to the drain back of 14,000lbs of LOX from the ET. If this had gone unnoticed, the shuttle would've been forced to perform a transatlantic abort.
STS-27: 700 tiles damaged, 1 missing. Atlantis nearly disintegrated but was saved by an
antenna mounting plate.
STS-32: Incorrect vector data uploaded to shuttles flight system leading to the orbiter performing several rolls before it could be corrected.
STS-40, STS-42 and STS-45: Abnormally high tile damage.
STS-95: Drag chute door came loose during launched and impacted center main engines bell.
STS-112: SRB hold-down charges didn't fire. Clamps were ripped off by the SRBs during liftoff.
STS-114: Foam strike. This was the flight immediately after the loss of Columbia on 107.