Space Shuttle Challenger Astronauts Remembered

Space Shuttle Challenger Astronauts Remembered

On Friday a remembrance for the crew of the space shuttle Challenger STS-51L was held by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. The ceremony, held at the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, came on the 25^th anniversary of the disaster which took the lives of the seven astronauts onboard.

It was on January 28^th, 1986 that the crew of seven was killed when their launch vehicle exploded just minutes into the flight. It was later determined that faulty o-rings, in the solid rocket boosters, failed due to the unusually cold weather of the day. The failure of the rings allowed hot gases to escape from the SRBs causing an explosion of one booster, which created a chain reaction of explosions of the external fuel tank and the rest of the STS-51L vehicle.

The public was invited to come and pay respects to the crew, and flowers were provided by the KSC Visitors Complex for individuals to place at the memorial site. Among the speakers, who included several astronauts and NASA officials, was the widow of the Shuttle Challenger Commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, June Scobee Rodgers.

Also on board with Commander Scobee, at the time of the disaster was Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair and Ellison S. Onizuka, Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis and, the first teacher to fly in space, Sharon Christa McAuliffe.