The Challenger explodes
| I was working at my Army office at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, when Rose Kimberley came into the room. She said that there was an explosion on the space shuttle. We all went downstairs and watched the TV repeated show the 73-second flight of the Challenger. It was so sad. The cameras were panning the faces of the reletives when the rocket blew up and you could see their expressions. I had always taken the space program for granted, but I don't anymore. If I am ever granted a see aboard, you can have mine. |
 On January 28 of 1986 the orbiter "Challenger" exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing its entire seven-member crew (including a high-school teacher, the first private citizen to fly aboard the craft). The accident, determined to have been caused by flawed booster rocket seams, occurred on the 25th Shuttle mission and resulted in the suspension of flights so that the design problem could be corrected. Shuttle flights were resumed in 1988 after corrective measures were satisfactorily completed and new safety systems installed in the three remaining orbiters--"Discovery," "Columbia," and "Atlantis."
Here is a video clip of the accident.
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