Thirty years ago today, all seven members of the Space Shuttle Challenger crew lost their lives when the ship broke apart 73 seconds after it took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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Killed in the Challenger explosion were Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis and McAuliffe, the New Hampshire high school teacher who had been selected as “first private citizen in space”. She knows that for today’s students, it seems like something out of a history book.
Since the Challenger tragedy, Klumpe said NASA has made big changes in the industry and will continue to provide the world’s brightest and most talented with the opportunity to travel into space, a feat the Challenger crew would be proud of.
Experts say a malfunction caused the Challenger spacecraft to explode as millions watched on live television.
“She proves to me and to the kids how ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things”, said Phillip Salcedo, an eight-grade academic readiness coach at the school.
Students at Christa McAuliffe Elementary in Green Bay paused to honor a victim of the Challenger disaster.
This Jan. 28, 1986 photo provided by NASA shows icicles on hand rails of the space shuttle Challenger’s service structure on the morning of its final launch from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. It was later discovered that a seal failed on one of the rocket boosters.
Three NASA astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil Gus Grissom and Ed White were killed in a launchpad fire that sparked during testing of Apollo 1 capsule on January 27, 1967.
The Challenger Learning Center does have one notable success story.
Gordimer, now a teacher herself, remembers being excited that a teacher was going to space. Seven astronauts died in the explosion.
The Challenger flight wasn’t just another launch, in 1986.
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Ceremonies were held nationwide Thursday to commemorate the 30 year anniversary. Students are watching a documentary about her, writing about their dreams as part of a “Reach for the Stars” assignment, and participating in a school-wide moment of silence.
