The ISS Takes a Moment of Silence to Remember Fallen Challenger Astronauts

“And those kind of messages I think we’re delivering”, Sumners said.

The event concluded with a reading of the names of the seven astronauts and a moment of silence.

“All of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe”, Preston later confided to a reporter. “Here you can be an everyday astronaut”.

Family members of some of the astronauts attended Thursday’s ceremony in Florida, including McAuliffe’s son, who was just 9 when the explosion occurred.

America’s first space tragedy actually happened on the ground just as the race to the moon was picking up speed.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives.

June Scobee Rodgers – widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee and longtime spokeswoman for the group – is passing the torch to daughter Kathie Scobee Fulgham.

Heres how Kathy Sawyer described the aftermath at Kennedy Space Center in The Washington Post:The rumbling sounds from the sky gradually died away. Because of a steady drizzle, the gathering was moved indoors, where the retired space shuttle Atlantis was suspended overhead.

The space shuttle Challenger tragedy wasn’t the first time that astronauts were killed, and it wouldn’t be the last. Seven people died aboard the Columbia shuttle when it broke into pieces while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.

When they’re done, they drive by Christa McAuliffe’s gravestone, and he asks if they know who she was. Students and teachers watched the launch in their classrooms, feeling that one of their own was accomplishing something great by going into space. Scott and his sister are now in their 30s.

FILE – In this January 27, 1986 file picture, the crew members of space shuttle Challenger flight 51-L, leave their quarters for the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

A thorough investigation and federal commission later revealed the shuttle disintegrated after the O-ring seal in one of its rocket boosters failed at liftoff.

“The whole entire evening will be free to the community, just to give our thank you for being apart of our community of our Challenger Center”, said Director of the Challenger Learning Center at WJU, Jackie Shia. “That’s what they really focus on with the kids”.

Fittingly, the crowd Thursday included schoolchildren from local Apollo Elementary.

Those crew members and the mission were remembered today across the country and here in our area. Front row from left are Michael J. Smith, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, and Ronald E. McNair. Both his children are now in their 50s.

However, the Challenger mission would end up making history for a different, more tragic reason. “She keeps me young!”