30 years later, Challenger's final voyage remembered
Thirty years after the space shuttle Challenger broke apart in the clear, cold sky high above Cape Canaveral, the commander's widow no longer feels anger at NASA and the management missteps and schedule pressure that kept the orbiters flying despite a fatal flaw in their solid-fuel boosters.
She tells CBS News she is at peace with history, her role in it, the heart-wrenching loss of her husband and his six crewmates and her connection with the countless people who will never forget America's loss of innocence on the high frontier.
"I am able now to treat the event as history rather than avoiding the public scrutiny that overcame us during our private grieving," said June Scobee Rodgers, whose husband, Francis "Dick" Scobee, commanded the 25th shuttle mission. "I'm envious when I look back at Dick Scobee's pictures, and he's so young, and I'm a great grandmother now!
"It's also interesting to hear the perspective from my children as adults when they talk about it," she said. "I still hear from people who can tell me exactly where they were and what they were doing, if they were old enough, at the time of the accident. And it's amazing to me. They want to share their story with me. It's as though they are sharing the experience of their own grief with me."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/30-years-later-challengers-final-voyage-remembered/
= new reply since forum marked as read
The O-Rings! He did a simple experiment in front of the whole Rogers Commission. He dunked a piece of O-Ring, compressed by a C-Clamp (purchased from a hardware store) into his ice water. When he requested the ice water, the staff insisted that everybody have it. Little did they know what he wanted to do with it. It wasn't for drinking.
It is one of those iconic moments in history when one person can make a difference. By such a simple thing as dipping an O-Ring into ice water.
He was correct, too.
An amazing person.
And I am entirely aware of the Morton-Thiokol engineers who refused to sign off on the launch and who were overridden by their supervisor, apparently by pressure from the White House, among others.
And yes, the worst thing NASA ever did was abandon the Moon. We are paying dearly for it now. I am not a big fan of the SLS/Orion either. The Saturn V main stages had a perfect launch record. We threw that away.
I support human space flight because it is dangerous and people who do it inspire us all to do better. Also, future manned flights will likely be international collaborations, bringing the world together. Plus, the paybacks are pretty damned good, as is common with all big science.
My best to you.
My claim is that we should not have abandoned humans on the Moon, which I will stand by. As do many scientists including NdGT, Bill Nye, etc. etc. etc.
And of course we will send robotic probes out there. That's what NASA does, too.
But there has never been a greater triumph than Neal and Buzz and the rest of the Apollo astronauts leaving footprints on the Moon's surface. That we have not been back is one of the great human tragedies.
It is not an either/or deal. We can do both. And in case you haven't noticed, we're going to try to get to Mars, too. Probably no further though. (I will agree with you there.) And Mars is a really tough nut to crack. As you know. My bet is that the future of human space flight is asteroids and Lagrangian points. Only fun speculations, though.
Have a nice day, my good friend.
heard a person who was well acquainted with indigenous perspectives speak of the event.
He said, "
paraphrasing) the fact that Challenger exploded during its ascent, & Columbia did so upon its descent, would be considered to be a very ominous omen for our country."
And so it was.
