![]() ![]() The Challenger Center has reached nearly 4.5 million kids over the last 30 years, Morgan said. ![]() Just a few months after the Challenger accident, the fallen astronauts' family members set up a nonprofit called the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, which seeks to spark students' interest in science, technology and math by giving them exciting, hands-on experiences in these fields. "That's something that I'm really, really grateful for, and proud of." "Christa was just a wonderful teacher, a wonderful human being and a wonderful representative of our profession, and that made it so that it got turned around," Morgan said. Those that can't, teach.'"īut McAuliffe helped change that perception, she added. "There was a very popular saying at the time: 'Those that can, do. A huge study had come out - a big document called 'A Nation at Risk,' and it talked about how bad our education system was, and it kind of painted all schools and all teachers with a big, broad, bad paintbrush," Morgan told. (Image credit: NASA JSC Image Repository and Terry Slezak) Teacher in space Christa McAuliffe (top), backup crew member Barbara Morgan (bottom) and payload specialist Greg Jarvis (back right) training in a KC-135 “vomit comet” in the 1980s. Morgan said that McAuliffe and the "Teacher in Space" program had a huge impact, even though the STS-51L mission ended in tragedy. "These people are still with me all the time, every day." "Thirty years just seems like yesterday," said Barbara Morgan, who served as McAuliffe's "Teacher in Space" backup and eventually made it to orbit herself in 2007, aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. They are still missed today, three decades later. The Challenger disaster claimed the lives of seven people: commander Francis "Dick" Scobee pilot Mike Smith mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ron McNair and Ellison Onizuka and payload specialists McAuliffe and Greg Jarvis. Directly behind them are Mission Specialist Judy Resnik and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka. They are (L to R) Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Teacher in Space Participant, Christa McAuliffe. The STS-51L Challenger flight crew receives emergency egress training in the slide wire baskets. The shuttle program was grounded until the orbiter Discovery blasted off on Sept. Every last little technical piece was re-analyzed." "The space shuttle had to be entirely re-certified. In a way, the accident jolted these decision-makers awake, Chiao said. ![]() (Rockwell International built the space shuttles for NASA.) "If the decision-makers had known all of the facts, it is highly unlikely that they would have decided to launch 51L on Jan. "They did not have a clear understanding of Rockwell's concern that it was not safe to launch because of ice on the pad," they added. Those who made that decision were unaware of the recent history of problems concerning the O-rings and the joint, and were unaware of the initial written recommendation of the contractor advising against the launch at temperatures below 53 degrees Fahrenheit and the continuing opposition of the engineers at Thiokol after the management reversed its position," investigators wrote in their report about the disaster, which is known as the Rogers Commission Report. "The decision to launch the Challenger was flawed. The temperature at liftoff time was 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) - 15 degrees F (8 degrees C) colder than any previous shuttle launch, NASA officials have said. The O-ring failed in part because unusually cold temperatures on launch day caused the part to harden, investigators later determined. Challenger was lost because a rubber "O-ring" seal on the shuttle's right-hand solid rocket booster failed, allowing hot gas to escape and damage the orbiter's external fuel tank, as well as the gear that attached the booster to the tank. That type of thinking played a significant role in the disaster, experts have concluded. "There was a 'launch fever' at the time, to try to get these missions off on time, and get more missions going," he said. That run of success bred a measure of complacency, Chiao said. (Image credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics artist)īefore Challenger launched on its ill-fated STS-51L mission, the space shuttle program had completed 24 missions in a row, starting with the April 1981 liftoff of the orbiter Columbia. Here's how the Challenger accident occurred. 28, 1986, NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing seven astronauts and shocking the world. ![]()
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