Thirty years ago today, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded upon takeoff due to an o-ring failure, killing its seven-member crew. All seven crew members aboard were killed, including Christa McAuliffe, a school teacher who’d been specially chosen to fly in the mission.
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“I’d love to be an astronaut and be the first person on Mars”, said Diego Perez, one of the space campers in attendance. You know, I’ve got to document this moment, but in the other side of me, I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh.’ You know, I think of Judy Resnik, I think of Christa McAuliffe, I think of all…
The Challenger crew consisted of: mission specialist Ellison S. Onizuka, teacher-in-space participant Sharon Christa McAuliffe, payload specialist Greg Jarvis, mission specialist Judy Resnick, pilot Mike Smith, commander Francis “Dick” Scobee, and mission specialist Ron McNair.
McAuliffe’s son, Scott, now 39, also took part in the emotionally charged ceremony, held on a bleak, drizzly morning just six miles from where his mother’s space shuttle blasted off for the final time on January 28, 1986. She represented Utah in the teacher competition.
“The astronauts that we remember today were not just astronauts for NASA, they were America’s astronauts”, said Todd May.
Space Shuttle Challenger crew members gather for an official portrait November 11, 1985.
The space shuttle program was formally ended in 2011 after three decades of ferrying astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. It’s also honoring lives lost in the Apollo I mission, where three astronauts lost their lives in a cockpit fire in 1967, and the space shuttle Columbia tragedy of 2003, which saw the shuttle disintegrate upon reentering the atmosphere over Texas.
Dick Scobee was 46 years old when he died aboard Challenger barely a minute into the flight.
Steven McAuliffe, a federal judge in Concord, New Hampshire, still declines interviews about his late wife Christa.
Because his mission in January of 1986 had been scrubbed four times due to unfavorable weather conditions, Nelson said he shared crew quarters with the Challenger crew.
The event included a candle ceremony and talks by Homer Hickam and Todd May, the acting Marshall Space Flight Center Director.
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“For so many people, 30 years, it’s definitely history”.
