Thinking of You, Shuttle Challenger Crew

It was this day back in 1986 that we said hello and goodbye to the crew of the shuttle Challenger (OV-099) as she blasted off into the atmosphere, only to be felled by a faulty rubber seal that engineers knew would not perform at the temperatures in the morning of that launch day.

Shuttle Challenger crew:

• Francis R. Scobee — Mission Commander
• Michael J. Smith — Pilot
• Ellison S. Onizuka — Mission Specialist 1
• Judith A. Resnik — Mission Specialist 2
• Ronald E. McNair — Mission Specialist 3
• Christa McAuliffe — Payload Specialist 1, Teacher in space
• Gregory B. Jarvis — Payload Specialist 2

It’s hard to watch the videos of the explosion having watched as a little boy live.  But it’s interesting nonetheless.  I highly recommend watching The Challenger Disaster on Amazon, William Hurt ROCKS that role.  The two videos below are the best news coverage videos of the event that I could find — I hope each of their souls found rest.

Thanks NASA and Wikipedia.