fuel tank. Sixty-five seconds into the flight, the ex-
haust burned through the wall of the external tank,
releasing hydrogen. At this point, both the astro-
nauts and the flight controllers still believed the mis-
sion was proceeding normally.
Seventy-three seconds into the flight, with the
shuttle at an altitude of forty-eight
thousand feet, the external tank disin-
tegrated and the right solid-rocket
booster rotated, causingChallengerto
veer from its intended path. The shut-
tle was immediately torn apart by air
pressure far exceeding its design limit.
Television monitors showed a cloud of
smoke and vapor where the shuttle
had been just moments before. The
strongest parts, the crew cabin and the
solid-rocket boosters, separated from
the rest of the debris and continued
arcing upward.
Twenty-five seconds after the break-
up, the crew compartment reached a
peak height of sixty-five thousand feet
and began plunging back toward the
Atlantic Ocean. Most likely, some or all
of the crew survived the breakup, be-
cause four of the personal air packs,
which could provide oxygen after the
cabin system failed, were activated. Two
minutes and forty-five seconds after the
breakup, the crew cabin impacted the
ocean, producing a deceleration of
more than two hundred g’s (that is,
more than two hundred times Earth’s
gravitational force), well beyond the de-
sign limit and sufficient to kill the crew.
A distinctively shaped cloud of smoke
remained visible in the air off Florida’s
coast, and the image of that cloud ap-
peared on television news coverage of
the disaster—first live and then on
tape—throughout the day and for
much of the rest of the week.Impact Although NASA had lost
three astronauts during a ground test
in preparation for the first crewed
Apollo flight, theChallengerdisaster
represented the first time any Ameri-
can had perished during a spaceflight.
Widespread interest in NASA’s Teacher in Space
Project attracted more attention to this launch than
most shuttle missions. Many schoolchildren, includ-
ing those in McAuliffe’s school in New Hampshire,
watched the launch live on televisions in their
schools. Television coverage of the launch and disas-196 Challengerdisaster The Eighties in America
President Ronald Reagan had been scheduled to deliver his state of
the union address on Januar y 28, 1986. He preempted that speech,
however, to talk to the nation about theChallengerdisaster:Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and
I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttleChal-
lenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of
our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astro-
nauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But, we’ve never
lost an astronaut in flight; we’ve never had a tragedy like this.
And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the
crew of the shuttle; but they, theChallengerSeven, were aware
of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs bril-
liantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Sco-
bee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory
Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation
together....
We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to
dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space
program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the
idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just be-
gun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of theChal-
lengercrew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of
America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s
takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes pain-
ful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of ex-
ploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and
expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to
the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. TheChallengercrew
was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow
them....
The crew of the space shuttleChallengerhonored us by the
manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget
them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they
prepared for the journey and waved good-bye and “slipped
the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”The President Reacts to the Challenger Disaster