{"id":2166,"date":"2016-01-28T15:44:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T14:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=2166"},"modified":"2016-01-28T15:44:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T14:44:20","slug":"30-years-on-what-the-challenger-disaster-meant-for-our-race-into-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/science-mct\/space\/30-years-on-what-the-challenger-disaster-meant-for-our-race-into-space\/","title":{"rendered":"30 years on: what the Challenger disaster meant for our race into space"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was one of those moments you\u2019ll never forget. Thirty years ago, the Challenger space shuttle<\/a> exploded 73 seconds after launch. In an instant, a dream became a tragedy \u2013 and all because a small, simple seal had failed in the right solid rocket booster.
\nI remember the event well. I had a dark cubbyhole of an office overlooking a doorway that was a short-cut between our offices and the bar, where there was a television. At just after five o\u2019clock, when I was thinking of packing up for the day, a colleague banged on my window. \u201cThe shuttle has exploded,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see if there\u2019s any news on TV\u201d.<\/p>\n

He had heard a news bulletin on his radio and wanted to find out what had happened. It\u2019s all too easy to forget now that in those days you couldn\u2019t just do a quick internet search or flick over to the news channel. The news was broadcast at specific times \u2013 and the BBC evening news was not on until 6pm.<\/p>\n