![]() NASA is planning to send people to the moon for the Artemis mission. NADWORNY: And we should say that the crew included teacher Christa McAuliffe, part of that teacher in space program you're talking about. I know it would certainly be painful for the families to watch, but it's also painful as a memory for us as Americans to think about such a devastating moment in our history. And all of the teachers I knew at the time were equally excited about the possibility that one of them could someday go into space and that this would be an indicator that more people could go into space.Īnd so having watched it live on television, it really - I think the idea of it being seared into the collective memory is probably the most appropriate comment I can think of in that I've heard the same story come from thousands of people basically over the years that they likewise were sitting on a classroom floor, watching it live on television. And I was one of those schoolchildren myself, sitting on the floor of my fourth-grade classroom, watching it live on television. ![]() And so the nation's children - schoolchildren were really wrapped into this. This was the mission when a teacher would fly in space. LEVASSEUR: Well, NASA was really, you know, selling the space shuttle program as an opportunity for more people to fly in space. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that the Challenger accident was a tragedy that will, quote, "forever be seared into the collective memory of our country." What made the Challenger accident so devastating? This discovery reopens some decades-old wounds. But really, it's been in the ocean for over 35 years, and they'll need to take care of it first. And, you know, there's possibility maybe that this would go on display someday. There are a few pieces of the vehicles on display down at the Kennedy Space Center. LEVASSEUR: Well, NASA has in storage set aside down in Florida all of the pieces, all of the debris that's been recovered from both Challenger and Columbia. NADWORNY: What is NASA likely to do with it? And this - the visuals that we've seen so far really identify it as a part of the orbiter with those tiles. If you go and visit any of the space shuttles, you'll notice that the tiles that protect the vehicle for reentry, those black tiles on the bottom, have a very obvious pattern, just like tiles on a floor. LEVASSEUR: Well, I mean, looking at the images that have been released, it's obviously a piece of the orbiter. NADWORNY: So what do we know about the piece that they recovered? She is a curator at the National Air and Space Museum. Here to talk with us about this is Jennifer Levasseur. A documentary crew searching for World War II-era wreckage found the debris on the ocean floor. Yesterday NASA confirmed that a piece of the shuttle was recently discovered off the coast of Florida. NADWORNY: Just over a minute into its flight, the space shuttle broke apart in the sky. We are looking at - checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. In 1986, the Challenger launch shocked the country. ![]()
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