Home

                                                    Valerie Czech's NHD Project 2020

                The Challenger Explosion of 1986 

The Challenger Mission was supposed to "Break Barriers" when the Teacher-In-Space Program sent Christa McAuliffe and six other astronauts into space, but instead the                                                           Challenger exploded and the mission to have the first teacher, and first civilian in space, had failed. 

This is a website for NHD. (2020) I have done a lot of reasearch about the Explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle. I've used four books, and I've interviewed Mr. Larry Scheckel, one of the top two teachers selected, from Wisconsin, to be the first teacher in space. 

On January 28th, 1986, at Kenedy Space Center in Florida, at 11:39 A.M. the Challenger Space Shuttle launched. This was no ordinary space shuttle launch. Christa McAuliffe would be going along with six astronauts, Commander Dick Scobee, Specialist Ron McNair, Specialist Judith Resnik, Piolet Mike Smith, Specialist Gregory Jarvis and Specialist Ellison Onizuka. Now, Christa McAuliffe wasn't any ordinary astronaut going on the expidition, she would going on this adventure to become the first teacher in space! Unforttunately, this would not happen successfully..

All of the Challenger Crew Members 

Top, from Left to Right; Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik.

Bottom, from Left to Right; Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair. 

The Challenger Space Shuttle, along with captions. 

Christa McAuliffe was supposed to "Break Barriers" on January 28th, 1986 when she would ride the Space Shuttle Challenger, along with six astronauts, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair, and Mike Smith. They would go to the International Space Station where Christa McAuliffe would teach two school lessons, one about space, and one about the Challenger. Then, later they would return to Earth with Christa McAuliffe becoming even more famous than before, and being known as "The first teacher and first civillian to be to outer space." However, none of this happened. Instead, on January 28th, 1986, around 73 seconds after it launched, the Challenger blew up in flames. Therefore making history as the worst space tragedy that NASA has ever had.

FACT: This year, 2020, will also be the 34th anniversary of the America's worst Space Tragedy.