Breakfast at Tiffany's – Because I Do Not Know

Twenty Years After Challenger

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Former Mission Control operator James Oberg takes a look at seven myths surrounding that dark day:

1. Few people actually saw the Challenger tragedy unfold live on television.
2. The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word.
3. The flight, and the astronauts' lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch.
4. The design of the booster, while possessing flaws subject to improvement, was neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference.
5. Replacement of the original asbestos-bearing putty in the booster seals was unrelated to the failure.
6. There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin.
7. Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management -- the disaster should have been avoidable.

Read his detailed explanations ... very interesting for those of a generation who remembers it as others remember the day JFK was shot in Dallas or the pronouncement of the Normandy landing -- and very educational for those who are too young to recall the shuttle's demise.

"It was one of those defining moments in your life that you will always remember," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who had flown on the shuttle mission preceding Challenger. "Because in 1986, the space shuttle was the symbol of technological prowess of the United States and all the sudden it's destroyed in front of everybody's eyes."

MSNBC has a series of articles on Challenger here.

3 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:27 PM
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3 Comments:

ooooh! thanks for the newsy tidbit! mcauliffe used to teach at my elementary school and i recall watching the video, though i don't recall whether it was live or not.

you read my blog whenever you can, it's always open! i love reading yours cuz you make me think :-)

By kinkyrhombus, at 9:46 PM

remember that 'christa had blew eyes" joke? i remember the whole thing vividly... esp. reagan's speech about it... someone should find that speech, it would be worth posting.

By Aethlos, at 10:26 PM

We didn't see it live, but our class had gathered to watch the news of the liftoff. I believe I was the first at our school to know something had actually gone wrong, because I helped set up the TV feed -- and hence saw the newsflash before anyone else.

And I do remember the Reagan speech. That's a good idea, Spencer, I'll look for the text.

By Jake McCafferty, at 8:21 PM