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It was only seventy-three seconds into the twenty-fifth flight for the program. A problem with one of its booster rockets caused space shuttle Challenger to explode. Seven astronauts were killed. Many Americans clearly remember the event as if it were yesterday. Students were watching the launch from their classrooms. One of the astronauts was Christa McAuliffe, a school teacher.
NASA grounded the space shuttle program for more than two years while investigators tried to find out what happened. The space agency developed new safety rules as a result of the accident. NASA went on to launch more than one hundred shuttle flights following the Challenger disaster. But in two thousand three, another accident on the space shuttle Columbia claimed the lives of seven more astronauts.
STEVE EMBER: Valerie Neal supervises the human spaceflight collection at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. She says because spaceflight is experimental, it continues to be risky. But Ms. Neal says the United States space program always seems to recover from hardship.
VALERIE NEAL: “The fact, though, that the space shuttle program didn’t close down, that we didn’t close up shop and say, ‘This is too dangerous. We’re not going to do it anymore,’ I think is a tribute to the American people and the American spirit.”
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Shirley Griffith.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25