Challenger Salvage Chief Conceded Fireball Crossing

In late October 1987, AF Col. Ed O'Connor (who directed the
51-L debris recovery) confirmed an in-cloud booster crossing.

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DANIEL MAXSON: Do the SRBs -- or did they -- cross in
the clouds?
COL. ED O'CONNOR: Ya, the feeling is they did. What
happened is when the aft fixture failed, that SRB rotated out.
So that's why the thrust would force it to *cross* -- after the
*forward* section failed -- cross the path of the other which
was still *attached*!
DANIEL MAXSON: Ya but -- but they were held *together*.
I was told by a NASA expert the SRBs were held together by a
big *ring* of the thrust structure of the external tank. Otherwise
they would have immediately exited the cloud. And that they
went maybe a half-second held together by some kind of an ET
*ring* frame.
COL. ED O'CONNOR: Well, there's *two* things that holds it
together. At the *rear* there's a heavy ring for attachment, and
that's where the *failure* occurred, heating one of those struts
that holds them together and then *ripping* the rest of it out. In
the *top* structure, there's a thrust *beam* that goes through
the intertank area. There's some *ancillary* stuff there. The
forward *held* for a little bit.
DANIEL MAXSON: And it allowed them to cross.
COL. ED O'CONNOR: Ya.
DANIEL MAXSON: Okay.
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[Given probable cause, a federal judge can order an 'in camera'
inspection of classified (in this case SENSITIVE) film data.]

--
John Thomas Maxson, Retired Engineer (Aerospace)
Author, The Betrayal of Mission 51-L (www.mission51l.com)