The Challenger Space Shuttle

In 1986, seven people took off on the Challenger Space Shuttle from the coast of Cape Canaveral to launch the second Tracking and Delay Relay Satellite into space. In the shuttle, there were seven astronauts, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, and Ellison Onizuka. The flight was going smoothly until 73 seconds into the flight when the Challenger Space Shuttle was thought to have exploded 46,000 feet in the air. After investigating the incident it was discovered that the Challenger Shuttle’s fuel tank tore open and hot gas began coming out of the leak, causing a massive fireball as a result of the mix of oxygen and hydrogen. All 7 crew members died as a result of the accident. Much of the world mourned with America, for example, the European Parliament held moments of silence for the 7 crew members lost and the white house received tremendous amounts of letters regarding the Challenger incident. Following the accident, the shuttle program took a 32-month hiatus to investigate the incident through Ronald Reagan's program, Rogers Commission. Ronald Reagan responded to this event with his speech in which he said the famous words we can take with us moving forward, “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.”