Where were you when the Challenger exploded?
In every generation, there are a few events which stun a nation, and leave an indelible mark on children who are just old enough to realize what they have witnessed. For my father, it was the assassination of President Kennedy. For me, I will always remember where I was when the Challenger exploded - in my second grade classroom, watching the launch on tv, the launch that contained the first American schoolteacher.
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Fallen Challenger Astronauts Honored
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 29, 4:54 AM ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The twelve children of the Challenger astronauts were toddlers, teenagers or starting careers as pilots when they gathered with family to watch the shuttle launch just a few miles away on a chilly morning they would never forget.
Seventy-three seconds after launch, the shuttle blew apart into blasts of flame and zigzagging smoke contrails. Seven astronauts died in the explosion, and the images of the shuttle bursting apart were replayed over and over to a shocked nation.
"It's been more than 20 years and I think about it every day," said Richard Scobee, an Air Force pilot whose father, Dick Scobee, was the shuttle's commander.
"Our lives were shattered, but over the years that followed the families persevered with tremendous success," June Scobee Rodgers said. "I believe those parents launched aboard Challenger would be proud of their children."
Rodgers, along with NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, laid the wreath at the base of the Space Mirror Memorial, a tall granite-finished wall engraved with the names of the Challenger astronauts, the seven astronauts killed when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas in 2003 and the three Apollo 1 astronauts killed in a fire during a 1967 launch pad test.
About 250 people attended the 20th anniversary ceremony to honor Dick Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe, who was supposed to be the first teacher in space.
The investigation into the Challenger accident revealed a space agency more concerned with schedules and public relations than with safety and sound decision-making.
The explosion eventually was blamed on a poorly designed gasket in one of the shuttle's solid fuel boosters which hardened in cold weather. The temperature at Challenger's liftoff was 36 degrees. Engineers for a NASA contractor had protested launching at that temperature, but they were overruled by their managers under perceived pressure from the space agency.
"It is our responsibility, individually and collectively, to make good decisions," Gerstenmaier told the audience. "As engineers, the machines we build can do great things but can also cause great harm."
Rodgers said the Challenger accident hadn't changed her opinion about the importance of space exploration.
"Without risk, there's no discovery, there's no new knowledge, there's no bold adventure," Rodgers said. "The greatest risk is to take no risk."
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Fallen Challenger Astronauts Honored
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 29, 4:54 AM ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The twelve children of the Challenger astronauts were toddlers, teenagers or starting careers as pilots when they gathered with family to watch the shuttle launch just a few miles away on a chilly morning they would never forget.
Seventy-three seconds after launch, the shuttle blew apart into blasts of flame and zigzagging smoke contrails. Seven astronauts died in the explosion, and the images of the shuttle bursting apart were replayed over and over to a shocked nation.
"It's been more than 20 years and I think about it every day," said Richard Scobee, an Air Force pilot whose father, Dick Scobee, was the shuttle's commander.
"Our lives were shattered, but over the years that followed the families persevered with tremendous success," June Scobee Rodgers said. "I believe those parents launched aboard Challenger would be proud of their children."
Rodgers, along with NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, laid the wreath at the base of the Space Mirror Memorial, a tall granite-finished wall engraved with the names of the Challenger astronauts, the seven astronauts killed when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas in 2003 and the three Apollo 1 astronauts killed in a fire during a 1967 launch pad test.
About 250 people attended the 20th anniversary ceremony to honor Dick Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe, who was supposed to be the first teacher in space.
The investigation into the Challenger accident revealed a space agency more concerned with schedules and public relations than with safety and sound decision-making.
The explosion eventually was blamed on a poorly designed gasket in one of the shuttle's solid fuel boosters which hardened in cold weather. The temperature at Challenger's liftoff was 36 degrees. Engineers for a NASA contractor had protested launching at that temperature, but they were overruled by their managers under perceived pressure from the space agency.
"It is our responsibility, individually and collectively, to make good decisions," Gerstenmaier told the audience. "As engineers, the machines we build can do great things but can also cause great harm."
Rodgers said the Challenger accident hadn't changed her opinion about the importance of space exploration.
"Without risk, there's no discovery, there's no new knowledge, there's no bold adventure," Rodgers said. "The greatest risk is to take no risk."
posted by littledevilworks at 6:57 PM
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