I never ever forget the mission STS-51L

I was only 8 years old when the disaster occurs and the impact in my life was tremendous.

Forty years have passed, and I remember it as if it were yesterday.
#SpaceShuttleChallenger

The Challenger Seven Memorial Park in southeast Harris County will soon receive $5.3 million in renovations, including a new space-themed playground. 

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/local/2025/05/09/521016/challenger-seven-memorial-park-to-receive-5-3-million-renovation/

#HarrisCounty #Local #News #ChallengerSevenMemorialPark #HarrisCountyPark #HoustonParks #Nasa #Precinct2CommissionerAdrianGarcia #SpaceShuttleChallenger

Kristen Stewart To Play Astronaut Sally Ride As Amazon MGM Studios Nears Limited Series Deal For ‘The Challenger:’ Amblin, Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing EPs With Stewart; Maggie Cohn Writing
#News #AmazonMGMStudios #KristinStewart #KytaSedgwick #MeredithBagby #SallyRide #SpaceShuttleChallenger #TheChallenger #TheNewGuys

https://deadline.com/2024/06/kristen-stewart-plays-astronaut-sally-ride-amazon-limited-series-the-challenger-amblin-kyra-sedgwick-big-swing-challenger-space-shuttle-explosion-1235962098/

#OnThisDay in 1986...

I was at college, walking up the stairs to my dormroom when I heard about it. I spent the rest of the day glued to my little TV in our room.

As I watched the video that was being replayed over and over, one moment struck me: The twin trails of smoke from the booster rockets looked like the wide-spread arms of a giant in the sky.

It was immediately obvious that there would be no survivors. I cried, and prayed that they never had a chance to know what happened, and feeling awful for all the school kids watching the teacher take off, on TVs at schools around the world.

The cause was later determined to be a simple, small, faulty O-ring. It would be months later before any human remains were recovered, found at the bottom of the ocean.

The #SpaceProgram would never be the same again.

#ChallengerDisaster #SpaceShuttle #Space #SpaceShuttleChallenger #ThisDayInHistory #NASA #NASAshuttle #OnThisDay80s #OTD

https://youtu.be/hgA4HUfpyF4?si=IAILrm7ll2IjxqTQ

Remembering Judith Resnik, who died #OTD in 1986 aboard #SpaceShuttleChallenger.

Judy wore this flight suit on her way from Houston to Cape Canaveral ahead of her mission on #Challenger #STS51L. She left it with her things in the astronaut quarters, and it was returned to her family after #ChallengerDisaster. Her family donated it to the Johnson Space Center Visitor Complex where it can be seen today.

I forgot the all important hashtags🙄
#Challenger #SpaceShuttleChallenger
#ChallengerShuttle1986

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/challenger-space-shuttle-artifact-found-florida-ocean-divers-history-channel/

January 28, 1986, I was back at college after the winter break, my first year at UC Santa Cruz. I was 18, and the only electronics I had were a Sony Walkman, a clock/radio and an electronic typewriter.

I'm not sure who first heard the #SpaceShuttleChallenger had exploded, but there were a few portable TVs in the dorms where people would have been watching. Once the tragedy occured, the story was passed verbally down the halls.

I'll never forget this huge guy, Dan, who lived down the hall, sitting on the floor of his room, and openly crying on the stuffed Snoopy he otherwise tried to downplay.

The worst thing I heard that night was that hundreds of elementary schools had set up their auditoriums so everyone could watch because of Christa McAuliffe the teacher crew member, and many little kids didn't realize what had happened, and when the shuttle blew up, they cheered because they thought it was like fireworks.