The largest fragment from NASA’s Challenger space shuttle has been discovered on the ocean floor near the Bermuda Triangle by a documentary film crew.
The filmmakers of the documentary program “The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters” on the History Channel found the debris while searching for a World War II plane wreck, as reported by Space on November 10. NASA confirmed that this is a piece of the Challenger shuttle based on the modern structure of the object and the presence of a thermal shield measuring about 20 cm. This part of the Challenger was found off the Space Coast of Florida, northwest of the Bermuda Triangle.
Divers examining the debris of the Challenger shuttle. (Photo: History)
On January 28, 1986, the Challenger shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its 25th launch after a seal failed in one of its two solid rocket boosters. The STS-51L crew of NASA, which included commander Francis “Dick” Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, mission specialists Ron McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judy Resnik, payload specialist Greg Jarvis, and a teacher who perished in the accident.
A large-scale search and recovery operation was conducted following the tragedy. This was the largest recovery effort at the time, carried out by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. The operation involved thousands of personnel, 16 surface ships, a nuclear-powered research submarine, and several manned and unmanned submersibles that examined 1,666 square kilometers of ocean floor at depths ranging from 3 to 365 meters.
After seven months, 167 pieces of shuttle debris, weighing a total of 118 tons, were recovered. After analysis to determine the cause of the disaster, the debris was stored in two containers at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 31 and 32, each 24 meters deep and 4 meters in diameter. These containers are not a burial site or memorial for the Challenger but serve as a storage facility.
The filmmakers’ discovery is the first major piece of debris from the STS-51L disaster found in over 25 years. “When reviewing the footage provided by the film crew, we could see a structure approximately 4.5 x 4.5 meters. However, we noticed that the object was embedded deep in the sand, so its actual size is difficult to determine at this time. But I am confident this is one of the largest pieces of the Challenger ever found,” said Mike Cianelli, manager of NASA’s Apollo, Challenger, and Columbia Lessons Learned Program.
The History Channel film crew did not set out to find Challenger debris. Instead, in March 2022, they conducted a series of exploratory dives to investigate several vehicle wrecks off the coast of Florida, including a target located outside the Bermuda Triangle, off Cape Canaveral. Initially, the divers aimed to locate the wreck of the PBM Martin Mariner rescue plane that disappeared without a trace on December 5, 1945. At that time, the aircraft was searching for five Navy torpedo bombers that had vanished on the same day during Flight 19.
Instead of World War II aircraft debris, the dive team discovered what appeared to be a modern structure. After consulting experts and completing the dive in May 2022, the filmmakers sent evidence to former NASA astronaut Bruce Melnick. He suspected it was debris from the Challenger. Based on that information, the show’s producers reported the discovery to NASA, and in August 2022, Cianelli officially confirmed that the object came from the ill-fated shuttle.
