It was 30 years ago today that the nation watched live as one of the worst incidents ever in the space program claimed the life of the seven people on board the Space Shuttle Challenger.
NASA is having a Day Of Remembrance for the seven astronauts that lost their lives that day, including a lady who was supposed to be the first teacher in space. They have shared a video that created in 2014 once again on their website. You can watch it above.
I remember watching the launch in school as it was happening live. Our teacher had been one of the 11,000 who had applied to be a part of the mission. It was high school teacher Christa McAuliffe who was ultimately chosen and on board the Challenger that fateful day to become the first “normal citizen” in space.
Just 73 seconds into the flight we watch as a massive explosion took place on the Challenger leaving behind barely more than smoke and some debris falling from the sky.
On the thirtieth anniversary of the disaster, ABC News quotes Christa’s widower Steve McAuliffe as saying, “For us, Challenger will always be an event that occurred just recently. Our thoughts and memories of Christa will always be fresh and comforting. We are happy to know that Christa’s goals have been largely accomplished in that she has inspired generations of classroom teachers and students, and has focused public attention on the critical importance of teachers to our nation’s well-being.”
The NASA designation for the mission was STS-51L. You can read more details about the mission and what went wrong at the NASA website here.
We remember (L-R above) Payload Specialists Christa McAuliffe and Gregory B. Jarvis, Mission Specialist Judith A. Resnik, Commander Francis R. Scobee, Mission Specialist Ronald E. McNair, Pilot Michael J. Smith and Mission Specialist Ellison S. Onizuka on the day we lost them 30 years later.
From the NASA website:
President Ronald Reagan eulogized the crew, quoting from the poem “High Flight”: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.'”
By: Buck Stevens
