Judith Resnik

A crater? A... crater... in her honor? Whatever, it isn't a sewage pumping station.

Ok, anyone that has read my blog with just a modicum of purpose knows that I love the space shuttle. Any ways, my, I also love tangents. I love the interconnected world that we live in. Give me two pieces of history; I can find a link. Any ways, this brings me to the PEPCON disaster.

On the fourth of May, 1988, a fire at the Pacific Engineering Production Company of Nevada ultimately resulted in two deaths and 372 injuries. Over 100 million dollars of property was destroyed. Just what the hell happened at PEPCON?

On the 28th of January, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded. All aboard died. Now, say what you will, the space shuttle was an experimental craft in '86 and she still is now. I honestly believe that the disaster was a combination of bad luck and pushing the envelope just a little too hard.

The PEPCON disaster, though, That was the result of pure, unadulterated, moronic thinking. First things first, PEPCON put the factory OVER a gas main that supplies Las Vegas. Strike one.

I should mention what PEPCON made. Ammonium Perchlorate is an oxidizer for rocket fuel. When Challenger exploded, NASA suspended the shuttle program, but the federal government still maintained its pre disaster contracts with PEPCON. Strike two.

Finally, PEPCON just stored the shit anywhere. 3,900 tons, or 8.5 million pounds of an incredibly vigorous oxidizer just lying around in open plastic drums. Plastic is a fuel in a fire. They also used aluminum shipping containers to hold the stuff. Aluminum burns. In fact, it is a rocket fuel. Strike three.

Long story short, It Asplode!

So yeah, the Challenger explosion tangentially caused the deaths of two people two years after the fact.

Here's the video.