This video is incredibly entertaining. It starts off with a ridiculous, silly premise, and then devolves into actual, real reasons for the explosion, everything from engineering concerns, administration (government and NASA), to press-pleasing and scheduling.

You start watching for Big Bird. You keep watching out of fascination.

FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 231d

An engineer called Roger Boisjoly knew about the gasket problem and warned management, they launched anyway. I’ve always felt terrible he had to live with that

StoneyPicton@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 231d

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mikenurre@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 232d (4 replies)

What does NASA stand for? Need Another Seven Astronauts.

Why does NASA drink Sprite? They can't get 7-Up.

Why doesn't NASA have any competition? They destroyed their last Challenger.

TheOneAndOnly@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 231d (2 replies)

How did Regan start his speech that day? Hope you all enjoyed the fireworks this morning!

What's worse than glass in your baby food? Astronauts in your tunafish.

Seriously, though... As someone who watched this happen on TV in their school gym with the rest of my class, (and who was a huge space nerd, to boot), this was an extremely emotional event.

mikenurre@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 230d (1 reply)

Yes it was. Our generation's Kennedy assassination. I was in 3rd grade and this launch was hyped in school more than anything before it.

TheOneAndOnly@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 230d

Same. 3rd grade, and into the gym we went to watch it on TV. Definitely heard a number of my classmates blame, "...the damn Russians", naturally, having been raised in small town America, smack in the middle of the Cold War.

Crashumbc@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 230d

How many people can you fit in an Escort? 11, 4 in the seats and 7 in the ash tray

Rhaedas@fedia.io · 7 pts · 231d

Disintegrated is often used, but it isn't that accurate, as it implies being broken into small constituents or parts. There were large parts that survived the initial explosion, and the breakup was partially due to being subjected to forces the vehicle was not designed for (I.e., the shuttle being twisted sideways at mach speeds). The crew compartment stayed intact on the way down, with evidence that some of them were still conscious during part of the ballistic free-fall.

Crashumbc@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 230d

I read there's a fair amount of evidence at least some survived the explosion and lived till the cabin hit the ocean.

kylie_kraft@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 232d (1 reply)

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crimeschneck@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 231d

Challenger explosion was 38 years ago today; Naples’ readers recall event
Naples Daily News

On this date, Jan. 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard.

The spacecraft disintegrated 46,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m.

On Jan 27, 2011, for the 25th anniversary of that tragic day, the Naples Daily News asked readers to recall what they were doing on that day.

“I was teaching the fifth grade at Poinciana Elementary in a portable,” said Ann R. Dilbone of Naples. “I told my students that if the sky was clear we had a good chance to see it if we went outside. And sure enough we saw it rising in the sky, a beautiful white plume beyond the pine trees over Airport Road. It was thrilling. But suddenly it split apart and my students said, ‘What does that mean?’ And I answered, ‘I think I know, but I’m not sure. We’ll go back in and put our heads on our desks for a few minutes.’ Then I explained what I thought had happened and it turned out to be correct!”

Marian Barford of Naples: "We had attended Super Bowl XX where the Chicago Bears had obliterated the New England Patriots at the Superdome in New Orleans. We had enjoyed a beautiful visit to that wonderful city and had arrived at the airport in a most upbeat mood. The TVs were on in the bars in the airport and as we walked by toward our gate, we decided to stop and watch the launch.

"As Challenger exploded there was an audible gasp followed by total silence throughout the entire airport. As passengers approached the area and were told what was happening, they too fell into silence. We boarded our flight to Newark and rode home, all in total silence or soft whispers. The silence would be broken only occasionally by the pilot breaking in with a news update. It is a truly sad and heartbreaking memory.”

Zannsolo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 231d (1 reply)

I have a rocket ship handshake with my friend and occasionally I'll say challenger and not finish the rocket accention. Am I a bad person?

DancingBear@midwest.social · 0 pts · 230d

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altphoto@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 231d

Every time someone gets a blowjob at the whitehouse we get to go to the moon.

This time its Mars so they gotta have a ton of murdering and weird sexual shit done for this to work properly.