Thinking Of Challenger

Thirty Two Years Of Resonance With Challenger, SpaceRef

"On this day in 1986 I was sitting at my desk as a grad student in the Biology Department at Central Connecticut State University. Everyone knew of my interest in space. I had the radio on. I listened to the launch and then stepped out for a moment. I came back and heard the announcer said that debris could be sighted falling into the water. I was crushed. I had a class to teach in 20 minutes or so. We got word that classes were cancelled for the day so I had to go tell my class that they could leave. The day after Challenger was lost I wrote a letter to President Reagan and sent a cc: to my member of Congress. I asked them to name the new moons of Uranus that Voyager 2 had just discovered during its flyby 5 days earlier after the crew of Challenger. The correspondence chain that followed is shown below. Alas they went with the traditional IAU naming convention."

from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/2DK64cJ
via IFTTT