Challenger Crew Joked About Cold, Transcript Shows

In conversations before the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, crew members joked and bantered about the cold temperatures outside that later contributed to their spacecraft’s explosion, according to a new transcript made available Tuesday.

The transcript, released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contains the conversations of the seven crew members as they sat in the cockpit for more than 3 1/2 hours awaiting the launch Jan. 28.

“My nose is freezing,” astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka said at one point.

After the crew was informed of a delay in the countdown, Onizuka said: “Gunga Din doesn’t know how to operate in cold weather.” There was laughter from other crew members. A NASA spokesman, asked about the comment, said that “Gunga Din” was an “inside joke” and she did not know to whom Onizuka was referring.

The cold weather, suspected to have caused the failure of the seal on the right solid rocket booster that triggered the explosion, was a topic of frequent conversation and laughter throughout the morning. The temperature was 36 when the Challenger lifted off at 11:38 a.m. The transcripts indicate that it was cold enough to cause the visors on the crew members’ helmets to fog up inside the cockpit.

Requested by Media

The transcript was released at the request of the news media, and NASA said that it provided no significant information in the investigation of the shuttle disaster, which killed all those aboard. A transcript of their in-flight conversations had been released previously.

The talk shows the crew members’ impatience with the prelaunch wait and their eagerness to begin their journey into space.

In preflight checks, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher in space, was asked by NASA to speak into the intercom as a test.

“Good morning--I hope so, too,” she said. It was one of the few comments she made during the wait.

The transcript ends with commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, speaking two minutes before the takeoff.

“Welcome to space, guys,” he said.

Resnik’s Own Greeting

Astronaut Judith A. Resnik returned a NASA employee’s “Good morning” with her own kind of greeting. “Cowabunga,” she said. She later quipped that she was sore from having been seated so long. Payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis playfully suggested a massage. “We’re all getting old,” co-pilot Michael J. Smith said at one point.

The crew bantered about their growing restlessness as the countdown proceeded. “We should’ve slept an extra hour this morning,” Scobee said. “They’re probably making a fortune selling coffee and doughnuts out at the viewing areas,” engineer Jarvis remarked.

“How about that,” Scobee replied. “We should have gotten some.”

“A few hot toddies,” interjected Resnik.

“Yeah,” Scobee said.

They joked about food, with the pilot declaring he was getting hungry.

“God, I had two steaks,” Resnik replied.

“Oughta hold you for two days,” Scobee said.

“Probably keep me off the pot anyway,” she said.

In a prepared statement, the space agency said that the new transcript completed the release of all recordings on the Challenger’s intercom system from the time the crew entered the orbiter until the spacecraft exploded.