What is the security record of the American space program?
The US Space program is a source of pride for many. We were on the moon, started exploring Mars, sent shuttles with a crew around the world and went in space. But how safe is the program? This is often difficult to say, because the parameters for security decision -making may vary. Is it calculated when people on the ground are injured or killed? The statistics of the American space program can also be difficult to find because they are often concentrated in the Soviet space program. From this we can say that space flights or test conditions, such as Apollo One and X-15-3, did not occur during a real attempt. The overall security record of the US and Soviet space program, in addition to the accidents that occur in the USSR that have never been reported, is about 5% of deaths. Apollo One died of 14 out of 277 people who flew in space. Most of them include Apollo One because it was a intended mission, and although the command module that claimed the lives of three men was not intended forStarting on that terrible day, it would rise in a month.
When Apollo One is included in the US Safety Record space program, mortality increases to slightly more than 6%. However, many people are afraid that most of the deaths in the US space program were with a shuttle. 14 deaths occurred as a result of the Challenger shuttle, when it disintegrated a few seconds after its introduction in 1986 and the destruction of the Colombia of the Space Shuttle on re -entering the country in 2003.
The security of the US Space Program is further discussed when you take into account the death of members of the ground crew. In 1964, three technicians were killed and eleven seriously burned when the missile accidentally lit. In 1981, five technicians were drawn unconscious and the sixth died as a result of exposure to fatal gases. The mortality rate was stillHigher in programs outside the US. The 2003 rocket explosion in Brazil won the lives of 21 people.
The safety concept is very variable. For example, is it safer to fly on the plane than to be an astronaut for an American space program? Or drive a car? This is quite easy to answer. Since 2006 you have one of the 22.8 million chances to die on the plane. Your lifelong chance of death from car accident injury is 1 out of 84 or 1.1%. Since the review of the US Space Program flight records, the probability of dying on a space flight is about 1 out of 20. It cannot be denied that this is a dangerous job.
Astronauts in the US Space Program know this record, much more than we know. They are prepared for accidents, injuries and possible death. These statistics cannot even begin to state the number of accidents that did not lead to death but were close. These are even more scary because they occur with a high frequency. We also also began to understand possible long -term effects on the body antigravitačthe environment. Some effects are relatively negative and could contribute to premature aging or shortened life.
Space flight problems are that they are still very experimental. The American space program and other space programs around the world do not know what will work, what will be safe and all potential danger. Astronauts decided to gain additional knowledge for potentially fatal costs. The American space program certainly learns from mistakes, but we have not yet threatened the overall knowledge of how to safely explore the space. So the American space program cannot be said to be completely safe, but its participants can certainly be honored as brave.