Stargazers

Florida’s weather in the pre-dawn darkness of 6 March 1986 convinced Bob Parker that—had the hands of fate played a different card—death likely awaited himself and his STS-61E crewmates. Thirty-seven days before Parker’s crew were due to launch, Challenger had exploded, as freezing conditions conspired with faulty O-ring seals in one of her SRBs to produce one of the most public disasters ever witnessed. Observed with first-hand horror by the astronauts’ families, and with millions more watching on television, the Shuttle disintegrated in a fireball. It was the first time that U.S. astronauts had been lost during a space mission. It would not be the last.