This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the 1986 Challenger Explosion. This was an absolutely tragic incident in American history in which the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven of its crew members. This incident was exceptionally devastating because one of the passengers onboard wasn’t a NASA astronaut. Rather, a thirty-seven year old school teacher named Christa McAuliffe was onboard that day as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space Project; an effort to get the American people interested in the NASA Program once again. But of course, the most devastating and most disturbing part of this whole disaster is the fact that NASA knew of a historic problem with the O-ring seals on the solid rocket booster and had received correspondence from the manufacturer that they anticipated that the launch would end in catastrophe. NASA had the ability to halt the launch, and yet, they refused, sending seven people to their deaths in front of millions of people (many of which were children who were tuning in as part of their school day on account of McAuliffe being a member of the crew).

A special THANK YOU to our Hashtag History listeners -- Jeff, Christa, and Mike -- who so graciously shared with us their first-hand experiences of watching the Challenger explosion in live time. We cannot tell you what it means to us that you shared these stories with us and with our audience. Thank you so much!

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- Rachel and Leah

Music track: Falling by Aylex

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