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Morton Thiokol Rocket Testing Facility, Promontory, Utah, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"

A work made of chromogenic print.

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  • A work made of chromogenic print.

Date:

August 1994, printed September 1996

Artist:

Joel Sternfeld
American, born 1944

About this artwork

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Joel Sternfeld

Title

Morton Thiokol Rocket Testing Facility, Promontory, Utah, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1994

Medium

Chromogenic print

Edition

2 of 7

Inscriptions

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

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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