The flight occurred during the early years of cable news, and although CNN was indeed carrying the launch when the shuttle was destroyed, all major broadcast stations had cut away - only to quickly return with taped relays. Myth #1: A nation watched as tragedy unfoldedįew people actually saw what happened live on television. Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management - the disaster should have been avoidable.There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin.Replacement of the original asbestos-bearing putty in the booster seals was unrelated to the failure.The design of the booster, while possessing flaws subject to improvement, was neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference.The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch.The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word.Few people actually saw the Challenger tragedy unfold live on television.If that happens, here's the way the mission may be remembered: Historians, reporters, and every citizen need to take the time this week to remember what really happened, and especially to make sure their memories are as close as humanly possible to what really did happen. The flight, and the lost crew members, deserve proper recognition and authentic commemoration. They are myths, undeserving of popular belief and unworthy of being repeated at every anniversary of the disaster. But spaceflight historians believe that each element of the opening paragraph is factually untrue or at best extremely dubious. That’s how the story of the Challenger is often retold, in oral tradition and broadcast news, in public speeches and in private conversations and all around the Internet. Finally, NASA consoled itself and the nation with the realization that all frontiers are dangerous and to a certain extent, such a disaster should be accepted as inevitable.Īt least, that seems to be how many people remember it, in whole or in part. Meanwhile, a major factor in the disaster was that NASA had been ordered to use a weaker sealant for environmental reasons. And they were equally horrified to learn in the aftermath of the disaster that the faulty design had been chosen by NASA to satisfy powerful politicians who had demanded the mission be launched, even under unsafe conditions. Twenty-five years ago, millions of television viewers were horrified to witness the live broadcast of the space shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds into flight, ending the lives of the seven astronauts on board.

Challenger space shuttle accident