Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster: Nation Remembers Fatal Mission On 30th Anniversary
Dozens of educators who competed alongside Christa McAuliffe to become the first teacher in space gathered Thursday to remember the seven astronauts who perished aboard Challenger 30 years ago. It will also be flown at Framingham State College, her alma mater, and will eventually fly permanently at a library named for her in Framingham.
Many remember the Challenger for its most famous astronaut, who was supposed to be the first teacher in space, Christa Mcauliffe.
Penn-Goetsch was a finalist in the Teacher in Space Project, among many others.
It takes a balance between what young students should learn for their class curriculum and what parents want them to see and understand. NASA later determined that the accident was caused by a seal failure on a rocket booster, which allowed hot gas to ignite a fuel tank. Seven people died aboard the Columbia shuttle when it broke into pieces while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
The final words of the astronauts aboard the Challenger space shuttle moments before it exploded in the skies above the coast of Florida.
The event included a candle ceremony and talks by Homer Hickam and Todd May, the acting Marshall Space Flight Center Director.
Cabana marveled that “it’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years since we lost Challenger and her crew”.
“She was down in Houston, and she had told her people, ‘You guys have got to fly me up to New Hampshire, ‘ and they said, ‘No, no, no, dear”.
But he stressed that NASA “learned many lessons from the loss of Challenger, and the vehicle that returned to flight two-and-a-half years later may have looked the same, but it had hundreds of changes making it safer and more reliable”. Students and teachers watched the launch in their classrooms, feeling that one of their own was accomplishing something great by going into space. The Martian may be nominated for Academy Awards in Hollywood, but in real life, NASA doesn’t even now have the capability to launch American astronauts to the International Space Station.
Fate didn’t choose Penn-Goetcsch that day, but she says she’s constantly thinking about those that lost their lives doing what they loved.
“They’re not just a field trip for kids”.