(CNN) – Like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, or the morning of September 11, 2001, most Americans remember where they were when they heard the news of the Challenger disaster.
It was the first tragedy in flight from NASA. The Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 28 January 1986. Shortly after takeoff, the external fuel tank of the shuttle collapsed, causing what appeared to be an explosion, and the shuttle broke apart, falling into the ocean Atlantic about 14 kilometers. All seven crew members died.
The tragedy unfolded live on television and the audience who witnessed was particularly young.
Christa McAuliffe, a teacher of high school in New Hampshire, was one of the seven; It was supposed to be the first civil and teacher in space. NASA had prepared a satellite transmission of the entire mission for students from across the nation to witness the historic moment.
Clarence Searles was in the second grade at Challenger Elementary School in New Jersey. He loved airplanes and wanted to be an astronaut, and remembers sitting with the other children in her class watching the launch. “Basically everything had stopped” when the Challenger exploded recalls.
“We were all trying to make sense,” says Kathryn Stuart. His second grade class in Blankner Elementary in Orlando, Florida, watched the launch from the schoolyard. “They took us out of the yard as fast as they could and returned to school.”
That night, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation, speaking directly to the children of the nation: “I know it’s hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. ”
Later it was determined that cold weather, along with a design flaw led to the accident. The seal in one of the solid rocket boosters was not working properly. The disaster halted the space shuttle program at NASA for almost three years.
“But look how we fly then,” said Robert Cabana, former NASA astronaut and director of Kennedy Space Center. Cabana says scientists made more than 100 changes to the shuttle to make it more safe and reliable. NASA also changed its culture, he says, after learning that engineers had expressed concern about the launch of the Challenger before the tragedy happened.
“We could prevent that happening,” says Cabana. “Therefore it is really important to always, always, ask and listen.”
Since 1986, NASA has multiple rovers landed on Mars and discovered running water on the Red Planet. You have completed the International Space Station where astronauts have lived for 15 years. He sent the New Horizons Pluto to shoot the dwarf planet.
As Reagan said in the same speech, “The future does not belong to the fearful; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was leading us into the future and continue following them. ”
To honor the crew, their families and friends gathered to establish the Challenger Center. The mission was similar to the Challenger: spreading space education. Today, more than 40 schools across the country to help millions of children learn about science and space; hence they encourage them to reach for the stars.
“That’s really the legacy feed for Challeger That mission, that goal commitment and education,” says Captain Kenneth S. Reightler, former astronaut. “I think (the crew of Challeger) would be very, very proud.”
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