Monday, August 27

Natural Disasters


The Challenger Accident

The disaster happened in the 1968, when the American space shuttle, Challenger, has exploded killing all seven astronauts on board. They were five men and two women - including the first teacher in space - were just over a minute into their flight from Cape Canaveral in Florida when the Challenger blew up. The astronauts' families, at the airbase, and millions of Americans witnessed the world's worst space disaster live on TV.
The danger from falling in an unknown place prevented rescue boats reaching the scene for more than an hour.
President Ronald Reagan has described the tragedy as "a national loss".
The Challenger's flight, the 25th by a shuttle, had already been delayed because of bad weather. High winds, then icicles caused the launch to be postponed from 22 January.

EXTRAS:
In 25 years of space exploration seven people have died - today that total has been doubled.
The shuttle crew was led by Commander Dick Scobee, 46. Christa McAuliffe, 37, married with two children, was to be the first school teacher in space - picked from among 10,000 entries for a competition.



Mariana Zabaleta-Intermediate-Social Studies

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