''The Challenger'' (US title: ''The Challenger Disaster'') is a 2013 TV movie starring

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. For his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award for B ...

about

Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...

's investigation into the 1986 Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster. The film was co-produced by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

, and

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

,End credits and it premiered on 12 May 2013 on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

. It is based on two books '' What Do You Care What Other People Think?'' (1988) and ''Truth, Lies and O-Rings''. The film follows Feynman (William Hurt) as he attempts to expose the truth in the disaster. It aired in the U.S. on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel on 16 November 2013.

Plot

Dr.

, a physics professor at Caltech, gives a guest lecture to students, lamenting on both the power and limitations of science. While driving home, he hears on the radio that the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' exploded on takeoff and that it is very likely the astronauts perished in the accident. Several days later, he receives a phone call from a former student of his, who asks him to sit on the Presidential Commission to determine what caused the accident. Feynman, a vocal opponent of the political games politicians and government play, initially is unsure if he should participate; however, his wife Gwen encourages him that he cannot pass up a puzzle like this, and must sit on the inquiry and figure out what really happened. Feynman arrives in Washington and quickly realizes the chairman William Rogers wants to protect NASA and may not be seeking the real truth of what caused the accident. Unbeknownst to Feynman, the commission will be in recess for five days before any official work begins. During this time he visits various NASA production facilities on his own to learn and attempt to determine the cause of the accident. There he finds a culture lacking in truth and reality as NASA employees are afraid to openly discuss known issues with the shuttle program out of fear. As a maverick investigator, Feynman discovers many other known issues through research and a surreptitious note that the loss of a shuttle was expected. Feynman's only ally on the commission, General Donald J. Kutyna, attempts to leak information to Feynman as he has a secret source within NASA who knows what really happened. As Feynman draws closer to the truth his health dramatically changes as he discovers he has cancer. Realizing how important the truth is, he returns to Washington to divulge the reason for the shuttle's failure. In a televised broadcast of the commission hearing, having discovered that the O-rings were the culprit for the explosion, he demonstrates that due to cold temperatures, the O-ring could not expand and caused the explosion. Unable to hide from these findings, the commission issues its report to President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

with Feynman including an appendix with his own findings, citing "for a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." The film closes with a montage of several key members in the film and their contributions.

Reception

The movie scored an overall approval rating of 92% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

. Neil Genzlinger of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' writes "The Challenger investigation story doesn’t have quite the level of malfeasance or the cloak-and-dagger undertones of other movies about real-life government or business debacles. But it still makes for an absorbing tale, one that seems well timed for our current moment of bungled websites, unrestrained eavesdropping and public skepticism." Michael Starr of ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' writes "It’s both a learning experience and an emotional reminder of what can go wrong in that gray area separating man and machine."

Hank Stuever Hank Stuever (born 1968) is an American journalist who writes about popular culture for the Style section of ''The Washington Post''. Early life and education Stuever was born and raised in Oklahoma City, where he attended Bishop McGuinness ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' writes "The film is an appropriately somber and smoothly told account of the Washington politics and cross-agency obfuscation that nearly derailed the commission's investigation into the disaster, which claimed the lives of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher

Christa McAuliffe Sharon Christa McAuliffe ( Corrigan; September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire who died on the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L, where she was serving as a payloa ...

Cast

as Dr.

Joanne Whalley Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1961) is an English film and television actress. She was credited as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer from 1988 to 1996 during her marriage to Val Kilmer. Whalley came to fame through television with appearances in drama se ...

as Gweneth Feynman *

Bruce Greenwood Stuart Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956) is a Canadian actor and producer. He has starred in five films by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, once for Best Actor for '' Elephant Song'' ...

as General Donald Kutyna *

Brian Dennehy Brian Manion Dennehy (; July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles i ...

as Chairman William Rogers * Eve Best as Dr.

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts V ...

Henry Goodman Henry Goodman (born 23 April 1950) is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre. Early life He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Lo ...

as Dr. Weiss *

Kevin McNally Kevin Robert McNally (born 27 April 1956) is an English actor and writer. He began his acting career in the BBC TV adaptation of ''I, Claudius'' (1976), but is best known for portraying Joshamee Gibbs in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' fran ...

as Lawrence Mulloy * Sean Michael as Judson Lovingood

References

External links

* * *
''The Challenger''
on BBC2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Challenger 2013 television films 2013 films 2013 drama films 2010s American films 2010s British films BBC television docudramas BBC television documentaries about history American docudrama films American drama television films British drama television films Documentary films about the space program of the United States Richard Feynman Science docudramas Space Shuttle Challenger disaster Films based on autobiographies Films based on multiple works Films directed by James Hawes Television films based on books

Plot

Reception

Cast

See also

References

External links