There are certain events that occur during our lifetime which are indelibly etched in our minds; we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing at the time they happened; September 11 and the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco immediately come to mind.
However, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986, that killed all seven crew members is a particularly poignant memory. There was palpable excitement across America as this particular mission was to mark the first time a civilian visited space as part of a new NASA program.
As students in classrooms across the country watched the launch on live TV, the shock and horror of watching the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff from Florida on a perfectly sunny day was elevated by the fact that the civilian member of the crew was New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
Mission STS -51L also claimed the lives of NASA astronauts Francis “Dick” Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, and Gregory Jarvis.
Not since 1996 had we been reminded of the Challenger disaster in a physical sense until yesterday when it was revealed that a team of underwater explorers discovered a piece of the shuttle off Florida's Space Coast this past March.
The explorers were in the area searching for World War II-era aircraft for a History Channel documentary when they discovered what appeared to be a more modern object on the sea floor. They eventually were able to take clear video footage of their discovery.
Video footage of the 20-foot-long (six meters) section of the shuttle's underbelly was taken in May and turned over to retired astronaut Bruce Melnick who speculated it could be detritus from the Challenger disaster.
The team turned the findings that showed the shuttle's distinctive square tiles used to protect the shuttle from intense heat during re-entry over to NASA in August; the agency confirmed the findings in a news release, attached below.
NASA is currently considering what actions to take going forward to honor the legacy of the astronauts lost in the disaster and their families.
The History Channel documentary showing the discovery of the Challenger artifact will air as part of the series The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters" on November 22.
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