Michael John Smith (30.04.1945-28.01.1986)

[mss]

Jutro mija 76 lat od dnia urodzenia astronauty amerykańskiego - Michael John Smith, który zginął w katastrofie wahadłowca Challenger podczas startu do misji STS-51L w dniu 28.01.1986.

[Orionid]

Michael John Smith został wyselekcjonowany w ramach NASA grupa 9 (1980).
Wszyscy z tej grupy wystartowali na orbitę, ale tylko jemu nie dane było jej osiągnąć.

W wieku szesnastu lat otrzymał licencję ucznia-pilota i latał samolotem, zanim uzyskał uprawnienia do prowadzenia samochodu.

1968 uzyskał tytuł magistra (inżynierii lotniczej) w Szkole Podyplomowej Marynarki Wojennej Stanów Zjednoczonych w Monterey.

1971-1973 służył w 52 Dywizjonie Szturmowym (52 ​​Dywizjonie Szturmowym) na pokładzie lotniskowca USS KITTY HAWK (CV-63) oraz brał udział w operacjach bojowych w Wietnamie jako pilot A-6 Intruder, m.in. w operacji Linebacker , która była pierwszym ciągłym bombardowaniem Wietnamu Północnego od 1968 roku.

1978 został przydzielony do 75 Dywizjonu Uderzeniowego i wziął udział w dwóch rejsach po Morzu Śródziemnym na pokładzie lotniskowca USS SARATOGA.

Po przyjęciu do NASA pracował w Laboratorium Integracji Awioniki Shuttle, był zastępcą kierownika Pionu Eksploatacji Statków Powietrznych oraz asystentem technicznym dyrektora Dyrekcji Operacji Lotniczych.
 
07.06.1984 został przydzielony jako pilot do załogi STS-51H, którego zadaniem było powtórzenie części eksperymentów z pierwszego lotu z laboratorium Spacelab (Columbia STS-9).
W 11.1985 miała się odbyć misja na pokładzie wahadłowca Atlantis.
12.1984 okazało się, że NASA zamierza odwołać tę misję.
01.1985 podjęto decyzję o anulowaniu misji.

Przed przydziałem do załogi STS-51L został przydzielony jako rezerwowy pilot w misji STS-51C Discovery.
Powodem była poważna choroba Lorena J. Shrivera grożąca zakończeniem jego kariery lotniczej.
Ponieważ jednak pilot wyzdrowiał, zadanie zostało anulowane.
 
29.01.1985 został przydzielony w charakterze pilota do załogi wahadłowca STS-51L.

Przed pierwszym lotem został włączony jako pilot do załogi STS-61-I Challenger.
Lot miał odbyć się w 1986.

Rozważano także jego udział w charakterze pilota w misji STS-62A Discovery, [STS-62A].

Analizując wrak wahadłowca odkryto, że kilka przełączników instalacji elektrycznej na prawym panelu Smitha zostało przesuniętych ze zwykłych pozycji startowych.
Późniejsze testy wykazały, że ani siła eksplozji, ani uderzenie w ocean nie mogły ich poruszyć, co wskazuje, że dokonał zmian w przełącznikach, prawdopodobnie w celu przywrócenia zasilania elektrycznego w kokpicie po oddzieleniu kabiny załogi od reszty orbitera.

Głos Smitha był ostatnim, który słyszano w kabinie załogi.

Jego całkowity nalot wyniósł 4868 h na 28 typach samolotów.

Po katastrofie Challengera został pośmiertnie awansowany przez Kongres do stopnia kapitana i nazwano jego imieniem katedrę  w Szkole Podyplomowej Marynarki Wojennej (NPS) w Monterey w Kalifornii.

03.05.1986 kapitan Michael John Smith  został pochowany na Cmentarzu Narodowym w Arlington. 

Na nabrzeżu w Beaufort znajduje się pomnik Smitha, a na jego cześć nazwano miejskie lotnisko.

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/smith_michael.pdf

http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/smith_michael.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/s/smith.html
https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/s/smith-m.php

https://www.kozmo-data.sk/kozmonauti/smith-michael-john.html
https://www.astronaut.ru/crossroad/200.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Smith
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_John_Smith

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/smith-michael-john
https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2016/01/28/beaufort-native-michael-smith-died-shuttle-explosion
https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/34959

Nephew of Challenger Pilot Michael J Smith Wants To Follow In His Footsteps (2023)


Remembering Pilot Michael J. Smith


13News Now... Then: Family friends remember Space Shuttle Challenger Pilot


Astronaut Michael J. Smith Inducted into the North Carolina Aviation Museum's Hall of Fame


https://www.facebook.com/ArlingtonNatl/photos/todayiremember
https://twitter.com/ArlingtonNatl/status/991064398516097025

https://x.com/netflix/status/1354898928706097152
https://x.com/airandspace/status/1354916337781362688

10:08 AM · Apr 30, 2017

Remembering NASA astronaut Michael J. Smith (1945-1986). Selected 1980, Pilot STS-51L 'Challenger'. Mike would have been 72 today.

https://x.com/aisoffice/status/858593807348137984

[Orionid]

‘I Went Flying, All Right!’ Remembering Challenger Pilot Mike Smith on His 70th Birthday
by Ben Evans April 30, 2015


Mike Smith, the pilot of Challenger’s final mission. Photo Credit: NASA

(...) Yet arguably one of the saddest stories is that of Shuttle Challenger’s final pilot, Mike Smith, who would have turned 70 today (Thursday, 30 April). Originally earmarked for the first shuttle flight out of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., he also backed up a fellow pilot on another mission, and had it not been for his untimely death aboard Challenger on 28 January 1986 he might have become the United States’ 121st spacefarer. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2015/04/30/i-went-flying-all-right-remembering-challenger-pilot-mike-smith-on-his-70th-birthday/

CHALLENGER CREW KNEW OF PROBLEM, DATA NOW SUGGEST
By Philip M. Boffey, Special To the New York Times July 29, 1986

The Challenger crew members were probably aware that the space shuttle was in trouble in the final seconds before it disintegrated and may well have survived the initial breakup, according to evidence made public today.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which had previously said the crew was unaware of the impending disaster, made public a transcript of tape recordings in the Jan. 28 flight's final seconds that provided ''the first potential indication,'' the agency said, that the crew knew the accident was occurring.

According to the transcript, the last recorded communication by any of the astronauts was the comment ''uh oh,'' made by the pilot, Michael J. Smith, 73 seconds after launching, just after the shuttle lurched and before it broke up in flames. Breathing Supplies Activated

NASA also disclosed that at least three of the seven individual emergency breathing supplies on the shuttle had been manually activated, indicating that the astronauts were struggling to survive in the spacecraft's final moments. There were indications that one of the packs could not have been turned on by the person using it, and that one of his companions turned it on for him.

Today's disclosures raised questions as to how long the agency has known that the breathing supplies were activated and whether it could have made the information public earlier. The equipment was recovered from the ocean floor a month and a half after the accident. May Help Design Changes

The agency made this finding public in the report of an expert team that investigated the cause of death of the astronauts.

The information that NASA has developed may eventually prove useful in efforts to redesign the shuttle and its cabin and could shed light on crew survival under extreme circumstances.

The report, by Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin, the NASA official who headed the team, said: ''The cause of death of the Challenger astronauts cannot be positively determined; the forces to which the crew were exposed during orbiter breakup were probably not sufficient to cause death or injury; and the crew possibly, but not certainly, lost consciousness in the seconds following orbiter breakup due to in-flight loss of crew module pressure.''

The team's report appeared to strike a middle ground between those who have suggested that the astronauts died instantaneously and others who worried that they might have suffered an agonizing plunge to the sea after their capsule separated from the rest of the shuttle at the time of breakup.

The transcript made public today was of communications among four Challenger astronauts from 2 minutes and 5 seconds before the launching until the tape abruptly stopped 73 seconds after liftoff.

Earlier this month, the space agency said a preliminary analysis of this tape indicated that the crew was unaware of the disaster to come. The agency has also said that the last words heard at Mission Control in Houston were a routine response from the shuttle commander, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee. After ground controllers told him, ''Go at throttle up,'' Mr. Scobee replied, ''Roger, go at throttle up.''

But today, the space agency said detailed analysis of the tapes showed the comment, three seconds later, by Commander Smith, the Challenger's pilot. The ''uh oh'' suggests dawning realization of the unfolding disaster and could have legal implications in the $15.1 million damage claim filed against the agency by his family.

The claim asserts that Commander Smith ''was thrown about in the spacecraft and in the few seconds preceding his death, knew of his impending death.'' Rear Adm. Richard H. Truly, NASA's associate administrator for space flight, declined at a news conference here today to speculate on the legal implications of the new information.

Admiral Truly said the agency had based its previous announcement that the crew was unaware of the disaster on preliminary analyses that found only garbles at the end of the tape, just before the Challenger lost all power and the voice recording ended.

He said more careful analyses detected Commander Smith's ''uh oh.''

''It's my guess that at that point there was awareness on the part at least of the commander and pilot'' that something had gone wrong, the Admiral said.

The tape recorder containing the final words was badly damaged by sea water and the tape was indecipherable until scientists working for the International Business Machines Corporation developed a restoration process that enabled NASA engineers to clean and analyze it.

It appeared unlikely from the report today that there would be any further revelations about the astronauts' last words. The report said the tape ends abruptly after the ''Uh oh,'' and Admiral Truly said he considered the matter closed.

The expert team headed by Dr. Kerwin, director of life sciences at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, a former astronaut, analyzed the shuttle wreckage and other evidence. Dr. Kerwin communicated its findings in a three-page letter to Admiral Truly.

The team said it could not conclusively establish the cause of death because the impact of the crew compartment with the ocean surface was so violent that it masked whatever damage might have occurred at the time of the shuttle's disintegration.

Nevertheless, the team for the first time presented a probable description of the Challenger's last minutes.

The team estimated the forces on the orbiter at breakup from ground photographs and onboard instruments. The actual breakup was not visible on photographs because the orbiter was hidden by a gaseous cloud, the team said.

After the breakup, at an altitude of about 48,000 feet, the crew compartment continued its upward trajectory, reaching a peak altitude of about 65,000 feet about 25 seconds later. Then it headed back down, striking the ocean surface at a speed of 207 miles an hour about two minutes and 45 seconds after breakup. The forces imposed by the impact were about 200 times the force of gravity, ''far in excess of the structural limits of the crew compartment or crew survivability levels,'' Dr. Kerwin's letter said.

The separation of the crew compartment deprived the crew of its normal oxygen supply, except for a few seconds' supply in the oxygen lines, the team said. But each crew member's helmet was also connected to a ''personal egress air pack,'' which contains an emergency air supply a NASA official said would last about six minutes. . The team said that four of these air packs were recovered and that there was evidence three of them had been switched on.

One of those switched on belonged to Commander Smith, the team said, while the other two switched on could not be associated with any particular crew member. The pack not switched on was Mr. Scobee's, the team said. It said evidence indicated that the air packs were not activated by impact with the water.

At the news conference, Dr. Kerwin said the air packs were designed for use if astronauts had to leave the orbiter on the ground and walk through smoke or toxic contamination. Dr. Kerwin said the packs were not designed to provided oxygen should the crew compartment develop a leak and lose all pressure at high altitudes.

The pressure gauges were recovered for two of the air packs, he said, and these indicated that three-fourths to seven-eighths of the air had been used.

The air packs can only be activated manually and the valves are not easy to move, he said. The packs operate only as long as the user is breathing.

Admiral Truly said it was ''difficult or impossible'' for the commander, Mr. Scobee, and the pilot, Commander Smith, to switch on their own air packs without unstrapping themselves, and he said analysis indicated they did not do so. He speculated that other crew members sitting nearby may have thrown Commander Smith's switch.

Dr. Kerwin said he could not exclude the possibility that some crew members survived, either conscious or unconscious, until the crew compartment smashed into the ocean. But he said it was also possible, if the crew compartment lost pressure, that the crew members were unconscious within 10 seconds. Even with their breathing packs on, they would probably have lost consciousness rapidly, he said.

Air is drawn from the pack each time the astronaut takes a breath, but this can occur whether the astronaut is conscious or unconscious, he said.

The report said crew seats and restraint harnesses showed failure patterns indicating that ''all seats were in place and occupied at water impact with all harnesses locked.'' It said, ''This would likely be the case had rapid loss of consciousness occurred, but it does not constitute proof.''

Dr. Kerwin's report said experts from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the agency that performed the autopsies on the crew remains, were unable to determine whether lack of oxygen had occurred in flight, or what the cause of death was.
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/29/science/challenger-crew-knew-of-problem-data-now-suggest.html
https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1222197313961152516

[Orionid]

Dziś przypada 80. rocznica urodzin astronauty.

Challenger Center @ChallengerCtr 3:00 PM · Apr 30, 2025
Today, on his birthday, we remember Challenger Pilot Michael Smith.
#STEM #STEMeducation #Space4All #YouBelongInSTEM #YourPlaceinSpace #ChallengerCenter #Challenger

https://twitter.com/ChallengerCtr/status/1917564718689997198

30 April 1945. Birth of Michael ‘Mike’ John Smith (d. 28 January 1986). American astronaut, pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger when it was destroyed during the STS-51-L mission.

https://x.com/ron_eisele/status/1917284717008703900

Z historii alternatywnych

M... @100ItsLevel 1:03 AM · Jun 16, 2022
The 1986 exploding Challenger pilot Michael J. Smith is now an engineering professor at The University of Wisconsin.
Nobody died.
Nobody ever manned a rocket.  Nobody ever went to space.
It's all a show.

https://x.com/100ItsLevel/status/1537209280121675776

James Hawke @James_Hawke1 12:55 PM · Apr 22, 2024
#SpaceCrack #NASA
Astronaut Michael Smith "killed" in the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle "disaster".
Still alive and well.

https://x.com/James_Hawke1/status/1782362655833096212