January 28, 1986, Kennedy Space Centre: Space shuttle Challenger will be launching with 6 astronauts aboard, plus the first time ever, a civilian Christa McAuliffe. This will be the 25th space shuttle mission.
As the Challenger launches into space, crowds gather below to witness this wondrous event. Students at many elementary schools and high schools watch this event unfold in class. Cheers are heard in the control room at Kennedy Space Centre.
73 seconds later, Challenger explodes.
This was not a bomb, nor a terrorist act but a major malfunction in the shuttle's main fuel tank.
Now, 20 years later, many remember this event. What was suppose to be a space mission turned into a disaster within seconds.
McAuliffe was the first civilian to ever board a space shuttle. She was here on a "Teachers in Space" program, in which she beat out 11, 000 other applicants to win the space shuttle trip.
The 6 astronauts who boarded this ill-fated flight were: Francis Scobee, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, and Michael Smith, all having degrees in engineering and physics.
We won't forget the efforts these people put into space missions. Thanks for being such wonderful friends.
For more information, visit the following:
Challenger launch & explosion (full): http://216.92.181.8/video/010128sts51llaunch.mov
Challenger NASA site: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sts51l.html
