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Keith’s note: On this date 28 January 1986 the crew on board Space Shuttle Challenger, itself named after a fabled ship of learning and exploration, left Earth on a trip above the sky. And that trip ended in the sky. But their mission continues at challenger.org Ad Astra
Challenger STS 51-L Accident
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
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The legacy of all the crew endures, especially through the Challenger Centers.
As a personal note, the Challenger disaster was when I lost faith with NASA. I heard about it from a PA announcement from a school principal, when I was in a 10th grade math class. Before that, I was a big fan of the space program and I believed that NASA was expensive but that the expense was due to being extremely careful about astronaut safety. Afterwards, reading the Rogers report and learning the problems with institutional culture, well… That killed some of my illusions and dreams. I don’t want that to sound wrong. The crew of 51L were heros dedicated to that dream. But it was the event which taught me the system isn’t exactly dedicated to that dream.
I was a kid when we lost Challenger. I was a working Aerospace professional when we lost Columbia, and specifically was working with heat shields, so as the events unfolded and we understood what had really happened, it was a real kick to the gut.
Around the annual “Day of Remembrance” I like to share Gene Kranz’s speech to his team after Apollo 1, as a reminder that what we do matters, and we can’t tolerate laziness or complacency in ourselves. Not just great missions, people’s lives are on the line.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…