[Publib] Challenger Anniversary: Primary Sources Tell the Untold Story

[Carole Bos]

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle "Challenger" exploded 73 seconds after liftoff.  Christa McAuliffe, the "first teacher in space" was aboard.  Primary sources (NASA-released pictures, drawings, videos and documents) linked in this story http://www.awesomestories.com/disasters/challenger/challenger_explosion_ch1.htm  explain what went wrong - on the day of the launch (when the O-rings failed) and in the months leading up to the disaster (when people hotly debated whether the O-ring problem made the shuttle unsafe to fly).  After the explosion, a presidential commission examined NASA's photos.  The pictures show smoke, coming from the failing rocket booster, less than a second after the shuttle's ignition.  See those photos, and many others, which investigators used to determine the disaster's cause.  Learn about the conference call, fifteen hours before launch, when concerned engineers argued against Challenger's flight.  Examine the transcript of the crew's last transmission (which ends with "Uhoh") and review the official medical report (which contains surprising findings).    

The website is free to all educators, schools and libraries.  Simply request an academic membership at its main URL http://www.awesomestories.com/ which provides a link to the sign-up form.  http://www.awesomestories.com/group_signup.php 

Carole Bos
Grand Valley State University
Dean's Advisory Board