Now I am married to an Air Force retiree who once stationed on NASA Langley, and we often eat in the very same cafeteria the visiting astronauts ate at when they were here." She was so kind to me and it brought the tragedy even more home. Later, in my early 20's I went to my late father's class reunion at the Naval Academy and met the widow of one of the astronauts. "My brother came running into my bedroom to tell me of the explosion and I was simply dumbfounded. "I was at home due to a teacher's workday," said Joanne Tanner on the JBLE Facebook page. They still remember where they were when the Challenger exploded. Twenty-seven years later, the pain of the tragedy is still felt by those who share ties with Joint Base Langley-Eustis and the adjacent NASA Langley Research Center. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much." "To the families of the seven, we cannot bear as you do the full impact of this tragedy. "We mourn their loss as a nation, together," Reagan continued. Ronald McNair - mission specialists and Gregory Javis and Sharon Christa McAuliffe, payload specialists. Onizuka was joined in his ultimate sacrifice by mission commander Francis Scobee, U.S. But they, the Challenger 7, were aware of the dangers, overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. "But perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. "We've never lost an astronaut in flight - we've never had a tragedy like this," President Ronald Reagan said during an address to the nation after the disaster. The cabin hit the ocean two minutes and 45 seconds after the breakup, and all investigations indicated the crew was still alive until then. As the shuttle was torn apart by sequential explosions, the pieces of the spacecraft continued to travel upward - reaching 65,000 feet before plummeting down toward the water. Onizuka and the rest of the crew were not killed instantly in the blast. The mission is a great mission - we're looking forward to it and I think we're ready to go fly."Ĭhallenger only flew 18 miles before exploding. "I think we've got some real interesting payloads. and NASA Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, STS 51-L Challenger mission specialist, during a press conference before the launch. I'm really looking forward to going and flying this one," said U.S. "Let me say that it's really a pleasure to be back. It took 73 seconds for an o-ring in the right solid rocket booster to fail, causing the death of all seven shuttle crewmembers - as the flaming debris scattered across the Atlantic Ocean bordering the Florida coast.īefore the launch, the Challenger crew said they were excited to venture into space. Eastern Standard Time from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Jan. It took 73 seconds for the space shuttle Challenger to explode after its launch at 11:38 a.m.
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