Space Shuttle Challenger

6 Stories

38 Years Later, Home State Gives Christa McAuliffe a Fitting Honor

Teacher killed in the space shuttle disaster is first woman with a statue at New Hampshire statehouse

(Newser) - Decades after she was picked to be America's first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe is still a pioneer—this time as the first woman to be memorialized on the grounds of New Hampshire's Statehouse in Concord, the city where she taught high school. McAuliffe was 37 when she...

He Captured a Horrific Image of Space Shuttle Challenger

Photographer Bruce Weaver dead at 77

(Newser) - Bruce Weaver, a Florida-based photographer who captured a definitive image of space shuttle Challenger breaking apart into plumes of smoke and fire after liftoff, has died. He was 77, the AP reports. A statement released by the North Brevard Funeral Home said Weaver died in his sleep Friday with his...

Search for WWII Plane Turns Up Chunk of Challenger Shuttle

20-foot remnant found by documentary crew off coast of Florida

(Newser) - It's been more than 35 years since the Challenger space shuttle exploded shortly after takeoff, killing all seven crew members—but a documentary team has just unearthed a big chunk of debris from the doomed spacecraft. In a Thursday release , NASA confirmed the discovery, made in the Atlantic Ocean...

Engineer Who Tried to Stop Challenger Launch Dies

Allan McDonald warned that O-rings could fail

(Newser) - Allan McDonald, the engineer who refused to approve the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, has gone to his grave with a clean conscience. McDonald. the engineer in charge of the booster-rocket program at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol, risked his career by resisting pressure from NASA and his bosses to...

Challenger Engineer Dies, Free of Guilt

 Challenger Engineer 
 Dies, Free of Guilt 
OBITUARY
Mar 22, 2016 12:00 PM CDT

Challenger Engineer Dies, Free of Guilt

'You helped bring my worrisome mind to ease'

(Newser) - "Next time I talk to [God], I'm gonna ask him, 'Why me,'" Bob Ebeling said in January of his nagging guilt over the Challenger disaster, which he tried to prevent as an engineer with NASA contractor Morton Thiokol. He may now get his chance. The...

Why a NASA Engineer Has Lived With 'Nagging Guilt'

Bob Ebeling tried to prevent the Challenger disaster

(Newser) - Bob Ebeling, 89, has carried a terrible burden for 30 years. He was among several engineers who tried to stop the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, saying the booster rockets' rubber seals wouldn't seal correctly in cold weather. They were unsuccessful in their challenge to contractor Morton Thiokol,...

6 Stories