Independent voices from the TWT Communities
NASA's space shuttle flights began three decades ago with Columbia and will end this month with the final voyage of Atlantis and the retirement of the fleet. Between, there were triumphs and tragedies. Some of the milestones of the shuttle era:
Hundreds gathered at NASA's launch site Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, receiving words of hope from the widow of the space shuttle's commander.
For many, no single word evokes as much pain.
Text of President Ronald Reagan's address to the nation after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed seven astronauts. It was delivered from the Oval Office of the White House at 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 28, 1986.
Hundreds gathered at NASA's launch site Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, receiving words of hope from the widow of the space shuttle's commander.
Twenty-five years ago, seven astronauts died aboard space shuttle Challenger when it exploded shortly after liftoff.
Text of President Ronald Reagan's address to the nation after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed seven astronauts. It was delivered from the Oval Office of the White House at 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 28, 1986.
Text of statement by Steven J. McAuliffe, widower of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher in space who died in the Challenger explosion on Jan. 28, 1986. Steven McAuliffe is a federal judge who lives in Concord, N.H.
For many, no single word evokes as much pain. Challenger. A quarter-century later, images of the exploding space shuttle still signify all that can go wrong with technology and the sharpest minds. The accident on Jan. 28, 1986 _ a scant 73 seconds into flight, nine miles above the Atlantic for all to see _ remains NASA's most visible failure.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth safely today, ending a nearly two-week orbital drama that centered on a deep gouge in the shuttle's belly and an early homecoming prompted by a hurricane.
"The entire world knew how the Challenger crew died," she said. "We wanted the world to know how they lived and for what they were risking their lives."
"Geez. You never expected it to happen. We never expect these kinds of things to happen, I guess," she said, clutching a red rose.
