Morton Thiokol Rocket Testing Facility, Promontory, Utah, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"
Place
United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date
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Unmarked recto; inscribed verso, on mount, along bottom edge, in black ink: "2/7 JS [sic] 217.1 Morton Thiokol Rocket Testing Facility, Promontory, Utah, August 1994 N-August 1994 / P-September 1996 Joel Sternfeld"
At this facility the space shuttle’s booster rockets were tested. The elastic O-rings in the booster rockets were found to malfunction in cold conditions.
Unusually low temperatures were predicted for the launch of the space shuttle Challenger at Cape Kennedy on January 28, 1986. NASA and Morton Thiokol managers, under pressure to perform on schedule, approved the Challenger’s launch. Seven astronauts, including the first civilian crew member, high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, died when the main booster rocket exploded.
From the series, On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam
Dimensions
47.9 × 60 (image/paper); 63.1 × 76.4 cm (mount)
Credit Line
Gift of Jeanne and Richard S. Press
Reference Number
1998.846
Extended information about this artwork
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