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Divers seeking to find the remains of a missing plane in the Bermuda Triangle have instead discovered, at the bottom of the sea, a vessel of an entirely different kind: part of the space shuttle Challenger.
In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger had exploded a few tens of seconds after takeoff in Florida, causing the death of the seven crew members. The segment, remarkably preserved at the bottom of the Atlantic, is one of the largest pieces found after this tragedy that marked space history, NASA confirmed Thursday.
« Emotional roller coaster »
On images filming their discovery, made in the spring of 2022 in the Bermuda Triangle, two divers surrounded by fish reveal, from under the sand, the shuttle’s emblematic thermal protection tiles. These small black squares covered the entire underside of the ship, to enable it to withstand the infernal heat during its return to the atmosphere. The exact location of the discovery has not been revealed but it is just off the coast.
One of the two divers, Mike Barnette, told AFP that he had experienced real ” emotional roller coaster realizing what he was touching then. ” When we found her, it was a lot of different emotions “, remembered this marine biologist, whose hobby is to explore wrecks at the bottom of the waters. ” I’m used to diving around wrecks that are dozens or even hundreds of years old, but not one end of the space program! »
« Quickly, I realized it was something I had been through. When the accident happened, I remember exactly where I was, watching it live on TV “, he explained.
A piece of at least 4.5 meters by 4.5
After his dive, he shows the images shot to an astronaut friend, who confirms his discovery. Then, a few months later, NASA confirms that it is indeed the shuttle Challenger. « They were amazed at the size of the piece “says Mike Barnette. The visible part is about 4.5 meters by 4.5. But the piece extends under the sand, buried, and we do not know for the moment its total size.
One thing is certain, it is one of the largest ever found “, told AFP Mike Ciannilli, NASA employee for more than 25 years, mainly on the space shuttle program. Six shuttles were built in all, one of which had never been in space. This is undoubtedly the underside of Challengerexplained Mike Ciannilli, but difficult to know which part of the ship exactly.
According to him, the analysis of this piece will not a priori bring anything new to the investigation into the accident itself, of which it ” will never forget sight, when he was very young. The causes of the tragedy have indeed already been well established since the joints had frozen during the previous night. Observing how the materials have aged could still be interesting. But above all, he emphasizes, the memory of Challenger should help revive the lessons learned from this mission ».
After the accident, on January 28, 1986, extensive operations were carried out to find pieces of the ship. Ten years later, two new ones had reappeared on a beach, after a storm. These were the last found so far. Only one piece is on display in a memorial open to the public at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and the others are kept nearby.
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(with AFP)