Challenging

      PHOTO: NASA
DAY OF REMEMBRANCE: Not gonna lie. I dread this day. 

I have dreaded January 28th ever since 1986.

In the wee small hours of January 28, 1986, I was holding a colicky baby overnight for hours, passing the time watching CNN. There was wall-to-wall coverage of the launch of space shuttle Challenger since one of the astronauts on board this mission was a school teacher, Christa McAulliffe. Overnight, I watched all the pre-flight prep, and felt a growing uneasiness, for whatever reason.

The spacecraft launched at 8:39 a.m our time. When it the spacecraft cleared the tower, I shrugged and chalked my terrible misgivings up to fatigue. I put baby Rick down in a bassinet and headed for the shower. Guess everything was fine. 

I emerged from the shower to see my worst fears realized. Faces of loved ones onboard Challenger searching the sky, bewildered.

Challenger was lost.

Thirty years ago today.

Fast forward to 2016, we started our morning watching live coverage of the memorial service being held at Kennedy Space Center on NASA's Day of Remembrance.

I just love the photo up top, of a worker at Rockwell painting the spaceship's name on the orbiter. Bet he was proud to be working on that project.

By comparison, the photo below is heart-wrenching. It's a piece of what was left of Challenger.

      PHOTO: NASA
This 9.5 by 16-foot segment is part of Challenger's right wing. It was discovered by Navy divers about 12 nautical miles northeast of Cape Canaveral in 70 feet of water, on April 18, 1986.

NASA uses today, the anniversary of the Challenger disaster, to remember all of those who lost their lives as part of their space program. Here's a short video about the remembrance.
https://youtu.be/Nq7f97dtmR4


When we visited Kennedy Space Center for the launch of STS-132, the second to last flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis, we visited the astronauts' memorial. Heart wrenching then and now.

FRIDAY MORNING: Tomorrow morning (Jan. 29, 2016), a 45-minute webcast on the NASA DLiNfo Channel starting at 8 a.m. Pacific time will be all about the Synthetic Muscle™ experiment on the International Space Station. A polymer chemist from Ras Labs will be on hand, talking about about the investigation to test radiation resistance of an electroactive polymer. Sounds cool, doesn't it?  The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, manages the U.S. National Laboratory on board the ISS, and sponsors this experiment. During the event, the public can ask questions via Twitter using #askDLN or via email to DLiNfochannel@gmail.com.

For more info, visit http://www.nasa.gov/dln.