Today is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster that took the lives of 7 astronauts, including school teacher, Christa McAuliffe. I remember this day really well. I think it's one of those things like 'where were you when...'.
The crew's official portrait.
Getting ready to go and board the space shuttle.
The space shuttle in the hangar for pre-flight inspection.
Rolling it out to the launch pad.
At the start of the countdown. See a gray puff of smoke on the right side of the fuel tank? That is where the explosion started before it ever left the ground. The weather had been very cold and the "O"-ring made out of rubber was compromised because of the frigid temperatures. There had been ice covering this part of the space craft.
Lift off to....
...explosion at T+73 seconds into the flight.
Memorial at Arlington Cemetery for the crew.
The investigation concluded that the crew compartment had stayed intact and was not destroyed until it hit the water in the Atlantic ocean. Most likely part or all of the crew was still alive furing this free-fall at 207 mph.
It was 1986. I was pregnant with Shaun. The boys had school off that day. I was getting ready to take them to visit my parents and Lisa because they were going to take them to McDonald's as a treat from a day off of school. The night before I had burned my hand from some boiling water that I was pouring into a measuring cup to make augratin potatoes to go with our dinner. That morning it was still very tender and red and had a couple of small blisters. I had the tv on in our bedroom while I was getting dressed so I could watch the lift off. This was a unique mission because the first 'non-professional astronaut' was going up into space, a history teacher. It was really exciting and then all of a sudden I noticed a plume of white smoke. Small, then larger, then more, and then bang, bang, bang, the whole thing blew up. It was truly unbelievable. One of those moments that you see in a movie or a tv show but you know those aren't real because they are hollywood. But this WAS real. I think the whole world was in shock. The boys were watching it in the living room and I tried to be as calm as I could and walked in there and turned it off. They kept showing it over and over and over again all day long. I think it was one of the first times that cameras had captured something so catastrophic live. Nowadays we don't think so much of that, but this was a new experience for most of us.
President Reagan was supposed to give the state of the union address that night. He cancelled it and instead appeared on every channel and gave one of the most beautiful and compassionate speeches I can remember from a political leader.
