From Disaster To Discovery

The Challenger explosion and the rebirth of America's space shuttle. On July 19, 1985, Vice President George Bush announced that our national search was over. After reviewing thousands of applications, a schoolteacher had been chosen to ride in the Challenger Space Shuttle. Her name was Crista McCullough. So begins the happy news broadcasts that would ironically lead into one of our key national disasters: the explosion of the Challenger Space Shuttle. The original news reports are here--the disbelief, the sadness, the search for meaning.