Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster - 20 Years

[SuperMillionaire]

20 years ago today, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. It was January 28th, 1986, when this flight was supposed to have carried the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. Thousands (and perhaps million) of children watch her speed towards space, when all of a sudden, tragedy struck. Today, 20 years after that horrible tragedy, we still remember it. Today is a day of rememberance to honor our seven fallen Challenger heroes.


The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, 20 years ago today.

[RSL]

Yeah, I was only seven years old when that happened, but I still remember it pretty clearly. I do remember being confused, though, they had said a teacher was onboard and died, I assumed one of the teachers at my school.

[Meat Puppet]

If it wasn't for you, my (people) would be speaking Japanese and I wouldn't exist. I salute you all, brave soldiers!

[Lost Number]

Space is a dangerous buisness. You win some you lose some. It wasnt the last disaster, and there will be more.

[Madame Adequate]

It's sad that these brave people met a fate like that, but I take heart, because I know there are so many of us with the unquenchable thirst for exploration and adventure that there is an essentially limitless supply of people who are still willing to go up, despite the risks.

But we really do need something new. The SS has far outlived its intended lifespan, and we just saw the Columbia evidence as much.

Still, huzzah for those brave people who take the risk in the spirit of adventure!

[Lost Number]

Money makes the world go round. It is money which killed those people.

[Rye]

Yeah, it's so brave for people to take risks like that. It's good that we're honouring them in this thread. <3

[SuperMillionaire]

Christa McAuliffe was the teacher in the seven member crew. That tragedy happened three years before my time (I was born in 1989). And it wasn't the last space disaster; Challenger's older sister, Columbia, burned up and disintegrated in 2003, 17 years after Challenger. Just as in Challenger, all seven Columbia astronauts also died. And the space shuttle is a very risky (and costly) vehicle. It poses a risk of one death for every 8 flights, and each mission costs $500 MILLION each!

Today is the day. We must remember them. They touched our lives. They wished to serve our country in our conquest of space, and they did.

[Lost Number]

For all that will come after.

[Neco Arc]

yes. we honor them greatly....

[SuperMillionaire]

Ad astra per aspera - semper exploro

"To the stars, despite adversity - always explore"

That is what NASA says in tribute to Challenger, Columbia, and Apollo 1. I also decided to modify a KH2 poem, and this is what I came up with, in tribute to the seven fallen Challenger heroes.

Going into space…
Without you…
To continue to reach for the stars…
And meet you in heaven.

20 years, come and gone…
20 years since your death…
A dream – a dream of you…
In a world without you…

The dream I see in this world…
Without you…
Is a torn dream – a never-ending nightmare…
From 20 years ago…
I wish I could un-do it…
With you…

In 1985, Barbara Morgan was chosen as a backup teacher to Christa McAuliffe. When she goes into space (she decided to become an astronaut), she would most likely be thinking along the same lines of this poem. She will be the first teacher in space, replacing McAuliffe, because she never made it to space (the shuttle was climbing towards space when it exploded). If any of the seven Challenger astronauts' children would become astronauts themselves, they would also be thinking along the same lines, although it would probably be around 30-40 years.

[escobert]

I've been to the Christa McAuliffe museum and yeah ti was sad but, a shuttle blew up a year or two ago on re-entry. Sad stuff.

[-N-]

Why just today? Why not everyday?

Designating "days" for "remembering" tragedies just reduces them to "historical events".

As for me, I'm so fed up with the aerospace and defense industry's callous pursuit of money and fame that I turned my back on it after just three years of working in it.

[eestlinc]

Yeah, I was only seven years old when that happened, but I still remember it pretty clearly. I do remember being confused, though, they had said a teacher was onboard and died, I assumed one of the teachers at my school.

I was five but I don't remember it at all. I remember that it happened but nothing specific. I guess I was in kindergarten at the time.

[The Man]

It's sad that these brave people met a fate like that, but I take heart, because I know there are so many of us with the unquenchable thirst for exploration and adventure that there is an essentially limitless supply of people who are still willing to go up, despite the risks.

But we really do need something new. The SS has far outlived its intended lifespan, and we just saw the Columbia evidence as much.

Still, huzzah for those brave people who take the risk in the spirit of adventure!

Well said. I agree.