“America’s tragedy was their personal tragedy.”
On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 72 seconds after blastoff. All seven crew members aboard, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe (the first participant of the Teacher in Space Project), were killed. The shuttle disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Just about every American remembers where they were when they heard the news. Many witnessed it in real-time, including countless students across the country who watched the national tragedy live on classroom televisions.
A mechanical malfunction, contributed to by record-low temperatures that morning, was to blame.
I covered local reaction to the disaster for CBS News. The heartache was on display everywhere.
Enter Bernie’s Time Machine, and fasten your seat-belt…
Thanks for the sobering reminder at an event we should never forget. The video, the initial jubilation, the sudden fireball of an explosion, and how ordinary citizens took it hard and personal. A compelling chronicle of seven heroic lives lost in space.
Painful memory, but thanks or sharing, Bernie.