Jersey City schools commemorate 30th anniversary of Challenger shuttle disaster

On an unusually cold January morning, the astronauts’ families and other onlookers watched as the Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for what was supposed to be a seven day trip.

Her husband told News 9 that for his family, the Challenger accident will always feel like an event that occurred recently.

With Thursday marking the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, NASA will mark the somber day as a Day of Remembrance, as the agency will take part in multiple vigils. The explosion was later found to be caused by the failure of two rubber O-rings, responsible for separating sections of the Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters.

Seven crew members, including New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe lost their lives barely a minute after the launch of Challenger.

Locally, students at the Judith Resnick Elementary School will have a special assembly today to remember their school’s namesake.

Schoolteacher and astronaut Christa MacAuliffe was to provide that inspiration from space back in 1986. You can find her every school day not only teaching but striving to inspire her students to live their dreams, just like McAuliffe did for her.

“I was completely fascinated with space”, Bauer-Reich said.

So, McAuliffe put this three-inch ceramic pin in her personal flight kit aboard the Challenger. Her son, Scott, now 39, was among those attending the ceremony. The Challenger Space Shuttle exploded just after liftoff.

“We just wanted to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of space exploration”, said Principal Ryan Wilhite.

The crews from both shuttle disasters Columbia and Challenger will be honored as well as the crew from Apollo One who died during a fire in 1967.

It was 30 years ago tragedy struck to skies and forever changed space travel.

Among those who’ve remembered the seven Challenger astronauts are dozens of educators who had competed with McAuliffe to become the first teacher in space.

At 11 a.m. EST, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, and other members of the agency will begin a wreathe-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.