Space Shuttle Challenger

My tardy commemoration:

I was in store in a small town in south Georgia when I bumped into my supervisor's wife and kids. The young daughter told me what had happened. I saw the video footage of the explosion replayed on the news that night.

By chance, a housemate of mine at that time was the son of one of the engineers at Morton-Thiokol, the makers of the O-ring seals that had failed. From him I learned of the deep shock that the senior engineers and management fell into. I remember the palpable relief I felt at not being them.

Rand Simberg is my go-to guy on space matters, and here is his anniversary post.

May God rest their souls.