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34 Comments

  1. What’s really heartbreaking is NASA knew it was going to happen they didn’t tell the crew because they didn’t want the crew to know they were going to die.

  2. Why did NASA not decide to send people within another space ship launch to repair the foam used to insulate the internal fuel tank? Does NASA not want to repair or fix certain problems that they may see? Why doesn't NASA take more precautionary measures? Isn't safety a number one priority for the crew members?

  3. I was in 4th grade when this happened. I remember watching it on the news with my parents and they had plenty to say about the Challenger that night. It seemed like there were new theories about what happened every day. We happened to have a science fair coming up and my teacher wanted us to do one as a class based off the Columbia disaster and see if we couldn't figure out what had happened. My parents complained that the shuttle was too old to have done that mission ("You don't drive a twenty year old car all across the country, so why would you fly a twenty year old space shuttle into space????") In class we discussed how it could have been drag. We learned a lot about that kind of stuff really fast after that. I'm sure my teacher remembered the Challenger too and used it as a model for how to discuss the disaster with us. I remember the Weekly Reader having lots of articles about it, too.

  4. Anyone noticed that there's more debris from the Columbia disaster coming from space than there was from that flight that supposedly crashed in Shanksville or the one that hit the Pentagon on 911. Just the fact fun fact

  5. I really think that stupid cheery musical intro is an insanely disrespectful thing to add to such a broadcast, whether it's something that's the usual intro or not.

  6. I grew up in my early years watching the Apollo program and I was so excited when Shuttle programme followed on with our quest to know more about the confines of our small planet.You have to admire all those people involved in the space programme. In a world which seems to be chaos I always felt those involved in space exploration would achieve in getting the message home to those on earth that we need to be at peace with one another for all our sakes and for future generations.

  7. I was working at NASA Edwards A.F. B, CA on that fateful morning watching their return from a telemetry tracking command trailer on the bases main run way flight line station. I had heard very early in their mission that the Air Force offered to take a look at the vehicle while it was on orbit to determine what damage may have happened when the main tank insulation impacted the left forward wing edge. NASA management decline their offer knowing nothing could be done if in fact there was severe damage. The crew never knew the ground feared a damaged wing would destroy the vehicle upon reentry. All we could do was sit and watch the vehicle break up over Texas.

  8. Not only did they know about the foam from previous launches they knew that it hit the wing and that there was a potential problem they did nothing to notify the astronauts and didn’t authorize anybody to take a look to see if there was a problem. My question is if they were concerned about them getting home then why didn’t they alert them and have them look at the wing to see if it was damaged it makes absolutely no sense to me why they wouldn’t take the steps

  9. You know you're getting old when you remember 16 yrs ago as being maybe 7 yrs ago. That was such a horror to think about what it would be like to have your spacecraft break up at over 12,000 mph (but I imagine it was all over pretty quickly; I certainly hope it was).

  10. I remember this like it was yesterday. I was vacationing in the mountains during a snowstorm thunderstorm when this came on. It was a weird day to say the least!

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