I Remember The Challenger Crew

At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, is prepared to teach students from space.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including many family members, stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched on live television. There were no survivors.

The event is indelibly etched into my memory. I remember where I was standing in the Detroit Metro Airport Republic Airlines crew room when a Captain with a little personal TV, showed me the news.


FRONT: Michael J. Smith, Pilot, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Commander,  Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist, BACK: Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist, Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist.