Remembering the Challenger: 20 Years Later
It's hard to believe that it has been 20 years since the world witnessed the disaster of the Challenger space shuttle, live on January 28, 1986. It is one of those events, like 9/11, that people remember by where they were at the time it happened. I, for one, was in 2nd grade and remember watching it on TV with classmates and teachers in a classroom in my Catholic grade school. Perhaps what made it so devastating, besides the fact that 7 people died, was the fact that those of us watching were watching to witness a piece of space history. We weren't watching it as we would a movie, to be entertained...we were watching it as a nation identifying with real people heading to a place that we still don't fully understand. Christa McAuliffe, the chosen applicant for the Teacher in
Space program, was one of those real people.
A documentary entitled Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars will air on CNN this Saturday, January 28th at 8:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. It will also air during those same time slots on Sunday, January 29th. Here is a Space.com article about the film.
The National Geographic Channel will also air a documentary about the disaster entitled Challenger: The Untold Story. This will be shown at the same time as the CNN documentary, on Saturday, January 28th at 8:00 & 11:00. However, it will re-air on Monday, January 30th at 12 noon. There will also be a few more airings after that. Check listings for further information.
There are also a number of good resources on the net with information about the Challenger disaster, including images, sound files, and video. Here are a few:
- Kennedy Space Center: Shuttle Mission Archive
- Launch Quicktime Video (with sound)
- Challenger Center for Space Science Education
- NASA: Day of Remembrance (flash presentation)
- NASA: Various Reports and Info
- NASA: Video files (no sound)
- Space.com - Article, including a Mission Control transmission file
2 comments:
I remember that I think it was snowing the day of the Challenger accident, and we were dismissed early from school that day. Someone came in to our classroom and annouced that
there was an accident with the challenger or someone announced it over the loudspeaker. Good topic Beanie, defintely one of those things you will never forget.
Erin
Thanks, Air...I didn't remember about the snow. Our cousin Tom said you are right about it snowing that day. Mom can't remember whether we were dismissed early or not.
I caught the end of the National Geographic special tonight...it was really chilling. It's so hard to watch the video of the crew walking out to board the shuttle, waving to the media. Also, I never realized (or I forgot) that the 7 crew members were still alive in the cabin, which had separated from the rest of the shuttle. Although they were beginning to lose consciousness on the way down, they didn't actually die until they hit the water and the cabin exploded on impact. I will have to try to stay awake for the next showing of this documentary tonight!
Post a Comment