5 thoughts on “The Challenger Disaster, 30 Years On”
"Thirty years just seems like yesterday," said Barbara Morgan, who served as McAuliffe's "Teacher in Space" backup and eventually made it to orbit herself in 2007, aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. "These people are still with me all the time, every day."
If you're ever at the delightful outdoor airport terminal at Kona on the Island of Hawaii, you'll note that it is named for Ellison Onizuka, who was one of the victims. There's a little museum there dedicated to him.
<img src="http://airwaysnews.com/albums/2008/04/kona-international-airport-terminal-photos-planespotting-and-history-kona-hawaii-usa_240.jpg"> Kona's one of the few remaining "big" US airports where you walk out onto the airfield pavement (and don't you dare call it "tarmac") to embark or debark, rather than being extruded through a square steel pastry tube. Really makes you happy to be there after a long flight from the mainland.
There was a time when United used its very old spiral-staircase 747s on the SFO-KOA run, and the upper deck was "business class." There were no more than 24 seats up there, and you had your own galley, flight attendant, and little pods besides the seats for your carry-ons instead of overhead storage. Very nice way to travel.
"Thirty years just seems like yesterday," said Barbara Morgan, who served as McAuliffe's "Teacher in Space" backup and eventually made it to orbit herself in 2007, aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. "These people are still with me all the time, every day."
Indeed.
If you're ever at the delightful outdoor airport terminal at Kona on the Island of Hawaii, you'll note that it is named for Ellison Onizuka, who was one of the victims. There's a little museum there dedicated to him.
<img src="http://airwaysnews.com/albums/2008/04/kona-international-airport-terminal-photos-planespotting-and-history-kona-hawaii-usa_240.jpg"> Kona's one of the few remaining "big" US airports where you walk out onto the airfield pavement (and don't you dare call it "tarmac") to embark or debark, rather than being extruded through a square steel pastry tube. Really makes you happy to be there after a long flight from the mainland.
There was a time when United used its very old spiral-staircase 747s on the SFO-KOA run, and the upper deck was "business class." There were no more than 24 seats up there, and you had your own galley, flight attendant, and little pods besides the seats for your carry-ons instead of overhead storage. Very nice way to travel.
Now, I must go there.
This is illuminating and disturbing: http://gawker.com/thirty-years-ago-the-challenger…
Forgot to mention it, but they did that because Onizuka was from the Big Island.