Survivors juggle sorrow, hope on NASA’s day remembering Challenger, Columbia, Apollo 1
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — It was a cold morning in Florida when the last words heard by any of Space Shuttle Challenger’s crew were uttered by pilot Michael Smith.
The seven members of mission 51-L, the 25th space shuttle mission, had just lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B and were climbing east over the Atlantic.
“Uh oh,” Smith said 73 seconds after liftoff, before all transmission ceased. One of Challenger’s solid rocket boosters had leaked fuel onto the external fuel tanks, causing the shuttle to break up in a massive explosion and killing all on board.
Smith and crewmates Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space, commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Judith Resnick perished, marking the second major tragedy in NASA history.
It was Jan. 28, 1986, 40 years ago next week.
“It’s hard to believe it was that long ago,” said four-time astronaut and former NASA associated administrator Bob Cabana during NASA’s Day of Remembrance ceremony Thursday at KSC’s Visitor Complex. “For those of us who were around at the time, the picture of those two solid rocket motors, their plumes going off in separate directions against that clear, blue Florida sky that morning is something that’s firmly etched in our brains that we will always remember.”