This article was amended on 11 November 2022 to correct a misspelling of the last name of Jeff Bezos and to remove Elon Musk as an example of a civilian who has travelled to space. Civilians, namely billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, have since traveled to space through by own means. NASA has confirmed that debris found on the ocean floor off Florida's Atlantic coast comes from the fallen space shuttle Challenger, which exploded on Jan. The accident dampened Nasa’s ambition of opening space travel to American civilians, the Smithsonian reported in 2016. The 1986 disaster that killed all seven members onboard was portrayed in the 2020 Netflix documentary Challenger: The Final Flight. The teacher, 37-year-old Christa McAuliffe, was the first civilian to head to space, and had prevailed over a pool of 11,000 applicants to secure the spot. The ambitious nature of Nasa’s program in that period was illustrated by the people it decided to place onboard Challenger, including a teacher who planned to conduct a class for her students from orbit, which led to it being termed “the teacher flight” in the buildup to launch. It was also the shuttle that carried the first US woman and the first African American into space, according to . CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida Artifacts recovered from the wreckages of NASA's Challenger and Columbia space shuttles are for the. It was the second shuttle to make it to space, and had completed nine journeys between 19 before it exploded during launch. The Challenger is remembered today as the shuttle that altered “Nasa’s space program forever”, and it left a strong legacy. The space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lifting off from Kennedy space center in Florida on 28 January 1986. An investigation later found that there was a major malfunction due to freezing temperatures that compromised the strength of the machinery, specifically the shuttle’s O-ring seals, which are used to keep fluids from leaking and components sealed. items from each astronaut and recovered hardware from both orbiters. “For millions around the globe, myself included, 28 January 1986 still feels like yesterday.”ĭespite some concerns shared by shuttle employees, the agency had given a green light for the takeoff on that day. Pay tribute to the astronauts who lost their lives during space shuttle missions at. “While it has been nearly 37 years since seven daring and brave explorers lost their lives aboard Challenger, this tragedy will forever be seared in the collective memory of our country,” the Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, said in the statement. In Thursday’s announcement, the space agency said the “artifact” was discovered by a film crew that was in search of aircraft from the second world war off the east coast of Florida.ĭivers found a human-made element that was covered in sand and, given the location was near Florida’s “space coast” where the mission was launched from, they reached out to Nasa.
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