1 00:00:13,138 --> 00:00:15,515 [male anchor] Meanwhile, the crew is going through the routine 2 00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:18,435 of having breakfast just before they take them out to the pad. 3 00:00:18,518 --> 00:00:19,978 This will be the second countdown 4 00:00:20,620 --> 00:00:22,481 for what's going to be known as "The Teacher Flight" 5 00:00:22,564 --> 00:00:25,609 because it will feature lessons to be taught a little bit later 6 00:00:25,692 --> 00:00:28,487 by Christa McAuliffe, the schoolteacher from New Hampshire. 7 00:00:28,987 --> 00:00:31,406 And this is a departure for NASA 8 00:00:31,490 --> 00:00:35,350 because this will be the first time that a real person, if you'll pardon me, 9 00:00:35,118 --> 00:00:38,380 will be allowed to participate in one of these flights, 10 00:00:38,121 --> 00:00:43,335 and it portends more of availability of flights for common ordinary citizens, 11 00:00:43,418 --> 00:00:46,380 and it kind of demystifies and takes some of the mystique away 12 00:00:46,463 --> 00:00:47,923 from the old astronaut tradition. 13 00:00:50,384 --> 00:00:53,345 [man 1] This is Mission Control Houston at the T-minus nine-minute mark. 14 00:00:53,428 --> 00:00:54,763 [man 2] Nine and counting. 15 00:00:55,555 --> 00:00:58,160 [man 1] All orbiter systems continue to function normally, 16 00:00:58,100 --> 00:01:00,936 and Mission Control is ready for the launch this morning. 17 00:01:01,603 --> 00:01:03,230 This is Mission Control Houston. 18 00:01:03,772 --> 00:01:04,856 [man 2] Roger Wilco. 19 00:01:09,278 --> 00:01:12,281 [male anchor 1] Christa McAuliffe and her six crewmates are preparing for a go. 20 00:01:12,364 --> 00:01:14,116 [male anchor 2] Many people around the country 21 00:01:14,199 --> 00:01:16,785 will think of it as the first flight of a private citizen. 22 00:01:17,369 --> 00:01:20,122 [male anchor 3] And because she is a civilian, a private citizen, 23 00:01:20,205 --> 00:01:22,541 she's drawn a lot more attention around here 24 00:01:22,624 --> 00:01:24,835 than the astronaut members of the crew. 25 00:01:27,379 --> 00:01:30,507 Good morning. I'll introduce the commander of the flight, Dick Scobee, 26 00:01:30,590 --> 00:01:32,593 and Dick will introduce the rest of the crew. 27 00:01:33,260 --> 00:01:35,220 It's a pleasure being here with y'all this morning. 28 00:01:35,304 --> 00:01:38,515 This good-looking group off to my right, I'd like to introduce them one at a time. 29 00:01:39,808 --> 00:01:43,520 Ellison Onizuka is our expert on the tracking data relay satellite. 30 00:01:43,979 --> 00:01:46,481 [Onizuka] I've been looking forward to this for a long time, 31 00:01:46,565 --> 00:01:51,111 and I hope to stay with the space program, fly more missions. 32 00:01:51,987 --> 00:01:55,324 [Scobee] Ron McNair is our expert on the Spartan Halley, 33 00:01:55,407 --> 00:01:56,867 the comet research satellite. 34 00:01:57,326 --> 00:02:00,996 [Ron McNair] My sense of anticipation is greater this time than the first. 35 00:02:01,580 --> 00:02:05,459 I know how much fun it is and how fascinating the entire experience is. 36 00:02:06,251 --> 00:02:08,920 -[man] T-minus three minutes and counting. -[man 2] 3:30 and counting. 37 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:11,465 [Scobee] Judy Resnik, who's our flight engineer. 38 00:02:11,548 --> 00:02:14,343 Probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the Astronaut Office. 39 00:02:14,926 --> 00:02:17,387 [Resnik] I've pursued my career on my own merits, 40 00:02:17,471 --> 00:02:18,889 and this is my second flight, 41 00:02:18,972 --> 00:02:20,599 and I'd like to stay with the space program 42 00:02:20,682 --> 00:02:23,769 as long as they want me, because I think it's very important. 43 00:02:23,852 --> 00:02:26,210 [cheering] 44 00:02:26,104 --> 00:02:29,900 [female anchor] And we see the 51-L crew. Big smiles today. 45 00:02:33,904 --> 00:02:36,615 [Scobee] Greg Jarvis, one of our payload specialists. 46 00:02:37,366 --> 00:02:39,326 [Jarvis] I've been charged up since last March, 47 00:02:39,409 --> 00:02:42,287 and so this is kind of a culmination of a dream come true. 48 00:02:42,788 --> 00:02:44,748 [Scobee] Mike Smith, our pilot. 49 00:02:45,374 --> 00:02:48,710 [Smith] What I'm really looking forward to is the experience of seeing all the things 50 00:02:48,794 --> 00:02:51,963 that everyone comes back and talks about while they're on orbit. 51 00:02:53,507 --> 00:02:55,258 [man] Just a couple of minutes, 52 00:02:55,342 --> 00:02:58,887 the closeout crew will be closing the cabin door 53 00:02:58,970 --> 00:03:01,807 and preparing the white room for launch. 54 00:03:02,808 --> 00:03:05,310 [Scobee] And, of course, Christa McAuliffe, our teacher in space, 55 00:03:05,394 --> 00:03:07,771 who will be doing teacher activities the whole flight. 56 00:03:08,313 --> 00:03:10,399 [McAuliffe] As the first Space Participant, 57 00:03:10,482 --> 00:03:12,734 I am very delighted to be part of the program. 58 00:03:13,527 --> 00:03:16,571 I think it's gonna be very exciting for kids to be able to turn on the TV 59 00:03:16,655 --> 00:03:18,407 and see that space is for everybody. 60 00:03:20,867 --> 00:03:22,744 [man 1] The ground launch sequencer 61 00:03:22,828 --> 00:03:25,372 has started retracting the orbiter crew access arm. 62 00:03:25,831 --> 00:03:27,999 [man 2] The commander of the flight, Dick Scobee. 63 00:03:28,830 --> 00:03:30,836 [Scobee] If somebody's gonna light a six-and-a-half-million-pound candle 64 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,890 under you and send you off into space, it's gotta be exciting. 65 00:03:35,757 --> 00:03:37,592 But there's some apprehension involved. 66 00:03:38,510 --> 00:03:40,720 [male anchor] A crowd of some 500 spectators, 67 00:03:40,804 --> 00:03:42,722 including Christa McAuliffe's parents 68 00:03:42,806 --> 00:03:45,580 and 18 visiting schoolchildren 69 00:03:45,142 --> 00:03:48,895 from McAuliffe's hometown of Concord, New Hampshire, wait anxiously. 70 00:03:51,189 --> 00:03:53,275 [man 1] T-minus 15 seconds. 71 00:03:56,278 --> 00:04:01,450 T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six… 72 00:04:01,533 --> 00:04:03,493 We have main engine start. 73 00:04:03,577 --> 00:04:06,621 …four, three, two, one… 74 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:11,626 And liftoff. 75 00:04:12,335 --> 00:04:16,965 Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower. 76 00:04:18,258 --> 00:04:20,135 [cheering] 77 00:04:20,218 --> 00:04:22,120 -Roll initiator. -[man 2] Roger roll, Challenger. 78 00:04:23,346 --> 00:04:24,806 [man 3] Good roll. Program confirmed. 79 00:04:24,890 --> 00:04:26,266 [woman] Bye, Christa! Bye, Chris! 80 00:04:26,349 --> 00:04:28,185 [man 3] Challenger now heading downrange. 81 00:04:32,981 --> 00:04:37,486 Three engines are running normally. Three good fuel cells. Three good APUs. 82 00:04:37,569 --> 00:04:39,290 [man 4] Three at 65. 83 00:04:39,112 --> 00:04:40,655 65 FIDO. 84 00:04:40,739 --> 00:04:42,532 -[man 3] 2257 feet per second. -Thank you. 85 00:04:42,616 --> 00:04:46,360 [man 3] Altitude 4.3 nautical miles, downrange distance three nautical miles. 86 00:04:46,870 --> 00:04:49,247 Engines throttling up. Three engines now at 104%. 87 00:04:49,331 --> 00:04:52,000 Challenger, go with throttle up. 88 00:04:52,830 --> 00:04:53,502 [Scobee] Roger, go with throttle up. 89 00:04:54,252 --> 00:04:56,922 [static crackling] 90 00:05:02,344 --> 00:05:04,429 [man 3] Obviously a major malfunction. 91 00:05:07,557 --> 00:05:09,768 [theme music playing] 92 00:06:08,410 --> 00:06:09,327 [static skipping] 93 00:06:09,411 --> 00:06:10,453 [beep] 94 00:06:10,537 --> 00:06:12,800 [static skipping] 95 00:06:12,622 --> 00:06:15,750 This is unheralded in the history of the space program. 96 00:06:17,294 --> 00:06:20,839 Ladies and gentlemen, I have covered the space shuttle launches 97 00:06:20,922 --> 00:06:25,927 since the very first launch, since before the first launch itself, 98 00:06:26,110 --> 00:06:29,556 uh, going way back, and nothing like this has ever happened. 99 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,642 [screaming and crying] 100 00:06:33,351 --> 00:06:35,437 [male anchor] These are the spectators watching. 101 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:37,480 Families of the astronauts. 102 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:40,817 Christa McAuliffe's parents. 103 00:06:44,112 --> 00:06:46,114 [man 1] I thought the flight was going fine. 104 00:06:46,531 --> 00:06:49,409 And then I heard them say "major malfunction," 105 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,538 and then the person beside me said, "It's exploded." And it was… 106 00:06:55,498 --> 00:06:57,667 I couldn't speak. It was… 107 00:06:57,751 --> 00:06:59,127 [sighs] 108 00:07:01,212 --> 00:07:04,924 [man 2] Seven really brilliant and beautiful people got killed. 109 00:07:07,636 --> 00:07:12,349 [man 3] I was shocked. Reminded me a lot of President Kennedy's death in '63. 110 00:07:12,432 --> 00:07:16,519 I don't know where the analogy comes, but it was a national tragedy. 111 00:07:17,354 --> 00:07:21,900 [Tom Brokaw] The silence is deafening. There is no word from NASA, 112 00:07:21,983 --> 00:07:23,860 no word from the rescue vehicles. 113 00:07:24,277 --> 00:07:27,822 No-- No word whatsoever, uh, on what may have happened. 114 00:07:27,906 --> 00:07:29,491 If I had to speculate, 115 00:07:29,574 --> 00:07:33,203 I'd say it's probably 90% probability something with the main engines. 116 00:07:33,286 --> 00:07:36,390 It was what engineers call a catastrophic failure, 117 00:07:36,122 --> 00:07:37,791 several things had to go wrong at once. 118 00:07:39,376 --> 00:07:41,127 [man] The shuttle had an information stream 119 00:07:41,211 --> 00:07:42,587 that was really unbelievable. 120 00:07:42,671 --> 00:07:45,215 I mean, they had enormous amounts of data 121 00:07:45,298 --> 00:07:47,967 all the way up to the moment they lost the orbiter. 122 00:07:48,510 --> 00:07:49,302 So we're all thinking, 123 00:07:49,386 --> 00:07:53,390 "They must know what happened, or have a pretty darn good idea." 124 00:07:54,683 --> 00:07:58,520 [Jay Greene] GC, all operators, contingency procedures in effect. 125 00:07:58,603 --> 00:08:02,273 Stay off the telephones. Make sure you maintain all your data. 126 00:08:02,357 --> 00:08:03,817 Start pulling it together. 127 00:08:04,859 --> 00:08:08,780 The space program experienced a national tragedy 128 00:08:09,781 --> 00:08:12,242 with the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger 129 00:08:12,742 --> 00:08:14,452 approximately a minute and a half 130 00:08:14,536 --> 00:08:16,955 after launch from here at the Kennedy Space Center. 131 00:08:17,288 --> 00:08:20,830 The real question that remains to be answered of course is 132 00:08:20,166 --> 00:08:22,419 was there some kind of incompetence 133 00:08:22,502 --> 00:08:26,172 on the part of those people who are charged with the space shuttle program? 134 00:08:26,256 --> 00:08:29,467 I'm only raising it as a question. We do not know the answer to that yet. 135 00:08:29,551 --> 00:08:31,845 That will take a long and meticulous investigation 136 00:08:31,928 --> 00:08:33,513 before we can determine that. 137 00:08:35,306 --> 00:08:38,590 [man] As I watched the different newscasts, 138 00:08:38,143 --> 00:08:41,980 I began to feel that there was a cover-up in motion. 139 00:08:42,856 --> 00:08:47,402 There were people in NASA who said a catastrophe would take place, 140 00:08:47,861 --> 00:08:51,656 and all of the important players at NASA headquarters knew. 141 00:08:52,782 --> 00:08:55,827 How could they live with themselves 142 00:08:55,910 --> 00:08:58,997 for making a decision like that? 143 00:09:17,891 --> 00:09:20,226 [triumphant music playing] 144 00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:28,443 [Crippen] There was this pretty pink-colored glow out the windows. 145 00:09:30,737 --> 00:09:33,823 I always likened it to riding down a neon tube. 146 00:09:36,409 --> 00:09:40,371 As soon as we hit daylight, that pink color faded away. 147 00:09:43,917 --> 00:09:46,544 I got a sense of speed coming in on entry. 148 00:09:48,338 --> 00:09:50,924 The ocean and the clouds were really whizzing by. 149 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,960 Coming across the mountains and seeing the dry lake beds there, 150 00:09:57,180 --> 00:09:59,182 it was very obvious where we were. 151 00:09:59,849 --> 00:10:02,393 -[static crackling] -[man] What a way to come to California. 152 00:10:02,477 --> 00:10:04,620 [Crippen] We took a big left bank. 153 00:10:04,687 --> 00:10:06,189 I looked out the windows, 154 00:10:06,314 --> 00:10:09,776 and there were thousands of people out there on the lake bed. 155 00:10:10,610 --> 00:10:13,154 And I thought, "Hope they're not on the runway." [chuckles] 156 00:10:13,238 --> 00:10:15,281 [triumphant music continues] 157 00:10:29,212 --> 00:10:32,841 [man 1] Columbia, you're really looking good. Right on the money. 158 00:10:32,924 --> 00:10:34,551 [cheering] 159 00:10:36,553 --> 00:10:37,720 Beautiful, beautiful. 160 00:10:38,388 --> 00:10:40,348 -["America" by Neil Diamond plays] -[man 2] Thirty. 161 00:10:40,431 --> 00:10:43,560 [male anchor] Down it came from space, 98 tons of deadweight glider. 162 00:10:43,643 --> 00:10:45,770 Beginning of a new era in space. 163 00:10:46,271 --> 00:10:51,250 [man 3] Three, two, one… touchdown. 164 00:10:51,818 --> 00:10:52,777 [cheering] 165 00:10:52,861 --> 00:10:54,237 ♪ Far ♪ 166 00:10:54,988 --> 00:10:57,740 ♪ We've been traveling far ♪ 167 00:10:58,950 --> 00:11:01,160 ♪ Without a home ♪ 168 00:11:02,453 --> 00:11:05,390 [man] A triumphant return for the space shuttle. 169 00:11:05,665 --> 00:11:08,126 A perfect landing here in the California desert. 170 00:11:08,209 --> 00:11:10,545 -United States of America! -♪ Free ♪ 171 00:11:10,628 --> 00:11:12,380 ♪ Only want to be free ♪ 172 00:11:12,463 --> 00:11:14,757 [man] On the other side of the country, there was jubilation 173 00:11:14,841 --> 00:11:17,135 at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. 174 00:11:18,178 --> 00:11:20,130 ♪ Hang on to a dream ♪ 175 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,309 [man] John Young, Robert Crippen, and their magical spacecraft did it today. 176 00:11:24,392 --> 00:11:27,645 The first flight of a reusable spacecraft in history. 177 00:11:27,729 --> 00:11:29,898 ♪ Coming to America ♪ 178 00:11:30,648 --> 00:11:33,670 [Crippen] I'd never seen John that excited after we landed, 179 00:11:33,151 --> 00:11:37,197 and I was pretty excited myself. It was actually the highlight of my life. 180 00:11:39,449 --> 00:11:41,701 There were tens of thousands of people around at that time. 181 00:11:41,784 --> 00:11:43,286 Even Roy Rogers was there. 182 00:11:45,121 --> 00:11:46,998 Stephen Spielberg was there as well. 183 00:11:48,583 --> 00:11:52,300 [Young] I think we've got a fantastic and remarkable capability here. 184 00:11:52,837 --> 00:11:56,841 We're really not too far, the human race isn't, from going to the stars. 185 00:11:58,217 --> 00:12:00,530 [Crippen] Myself and all my compatriots 186 00:12:00,178 --> 00:12:02,472 are gonna get many more opportunities to fly. 187 00:12:03,348 --> 00:12:06,768 We are really in the space business to stay. Thank you. 188 00:12:06,851 --> 00:12:08,190 [cheers and applause] 189 00:12:08,102 --> 00:12:10,897 [man] I think this epic flight of Columbia proves once again 190 00:12:10,980 --> 00:12:14,670 that the United States is number one. 191 00:12:14,150 --> 00:12:15,568 [cheering] 192 00:12:18,112 --> 00:12:21,366 [Crippen] The country was very proud because we were a success. 193 00:12:22,750 --> 00:12:24,350 And it was a truly unique vehicle. 194 00:12:26,287 --> 00:12:29,540 Nobody'd ever seen spacecraft come down and land on a runway. 195 00:12:32,627 --> 00:12:35,255 [Neil Armstrong] That's one small step for man. 196 00:12:36,172 --> 00:12:38,675 One giant leap for mankind. 197 00:12:39,676 --> 00:12:42,220 [man] Near the end of the '60s, 198 00:12:42,303 --> 00:12:48,590 it dawned on NASA that we'd been so intense in our effort to go to the Moon 199 00:12:48,643 --> 00:12:51,980 that we hadn't given adequate consideration… 200 00:12:52,630 --> 00:12:54,232 to what would be done next. 201 00:12:54,857 --> 00:12:59,487 I was the director of the Propulsion and Vehicle Engineering Laboratory at NASA… 202 00:13:00,196 --> 00:13:03,408 so I was asked to organize this group. 203 00:13:03,491 --> 00:13:05,368 We devoted ourselves exclusively 204 00:13:05,451 --> 00:13:09,414 in laying out lower-cost means of getting to and from space. 205 00:13:09,914 --> 00:13:12,830 [propellers clunking] 206 00:13:12,917 --> 00:13:16,212 [Lucas] When we developed an expensive vehicle like the Apollo 207 00:13:16,295 --> 00:13:20,883 and used it one time, obviously that's not economically attractive. 208 00:13:21,384 --> 00:13:24,178 So the idea was to do something reusable. 209 00:13:25,596 --> 00:13:27,890 [male anchor] The president today authorized the development 210 00:13:27,974 --> 00:13:30,518 of a five-and-a-half billion-dollar space shuttle. 211 00:13:30,601 --> 00:13:32,770 According to the president, the shuttle will 212 00:13:32,854 --> 00:13:37,567 transform the space frontier of the '70s into familiar territory. 213 00:13:37,650 --> 00:13:39,360 [male narrator 1] Launched like a rocket, 214 00:13:39,444 --> 00:13:41,290 orbiting like a satellite, 215 00:13:41,112 --> 00:13:44,323 and landing on a runway like a plane to fly again. 216 00:13:44,407 --> 00:13:47,952 [male anchor 2] In its 60-foot-long, 15-foot-diameter payload bay, 217 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,540 it will eventually carry cargo weighing up to 65,000 pounds. 218 00:13:52,999 --> 00:13:55,543 The shuttle was gonna carry military payloads, 219 00:13:55,626 --> 00:13:57,754 science payloads like the Hubble Telescope, 220 00:13:57,837 --> 00:14:00,480 and commercial communications satellites. 221 00:14:00,131 --> 00:14:03,926 You can think about the shuttle as being a space truck. 222 00:14:04,100 --> 00:14:10,160 We're really setting up to take anything or anybody that wants to go to space. 223 00:14:10,990 --> 00:14:13,227 [Harwood] The shuttle is what opened everybody's mind to the thought, 224 00:14:13,311 --> 00:14:16,522 "We're gonna open space up to more average people." 225 00:14:16,606 --> 00:14:19,108 [male narrator 2] Space missions will become routine, 226 00:14:19,192 --> 00:14:22,528 with everyday scientists, not highly trained astronauts, 227 00:14:22,612 --> 00:14:24,906 and be comparatively inexpensive. 228 00:14:25,615 --> 00:14:28,760 [male anchor 3] Development of the space shuttle will take six years, 229 00:14:28,159 --> 00:14:31,954 and the first should be in operation by the end of this decade. 230 00:14:34,582 --> 00:14:38,169 [male narrator 3] We are on the threshold of a new era in manned spaceflight. 231 00:14:38,252 --> 00:14:40,880 The era of the space shuttle. 232 00:14:41,547 --> 00:14:46,844 [man] In 1977, everything was shifting focus to this new spacecraft, 233 00:14:46,928 --> 00:14:48,471 so NASA came out and said, 234 00:14:48,554 --> 00:14:51,224 "We're looking for our first group of astronauts 235 00:14:51,307 --> 00:14:52,975 to specifically fly the space shuttle." 236 00:14:56,521 --> 00:14:59,524 [June Scobee Rogers] When Dick Scobee was three years old, 237 00:14:59,607 --> 00:15:01,442 he wanted to fly airplanes. 238 00:15:01,943 --> 00:15:03,361 That was his dream. 239 00:15:04,237 --> 00:15:07,907 Dick was in the Air Force, and I was a senior in high school. 240 00:15:08,574 --> 00:15:14,288 And we married just before I was 17 and he was 19. [chuckles] 241 00:15:14,872 --> 00:15:19,127 Eventually, he became a test pilot. He could've done that job forever. 242 00:15:19,210 --> 00:15:22,213 But when he saw that ad in the Los Angeles Times… 243 00:15:23,548 --> 00:15:28,940 "Shuttle Astronauts Needed," it sparked a new interest for him. 244 00:15:28,636 --> 00:15:29,929 I said, "I think you can do it." 245 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,599 And he said, "Oh, those guys, there are so many brilliant people 246 00:15:33,683 --> 00:15:35,143 that would be accepted." 247 00:15:35,226 --> 00:15:37,812 He said, "We'll see. Don't pack your bags yet." 248 00:15:37,895 --> 00:15:39,188 [laughs] 249 00:15:40,148 --> 00:15:42,859 So off he went for different interviews. 250 00:15:43,568 --> 00:15:45,736 Early one morning, the phone rang. 251 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,198 He hopped out of the bed, and he took it in his hand, 252 00:15:49,282 --> 00:15:52,785 and he said, uh, "Yes, sir. Yes, sir." 253 00:15:52,869 --> 00:15:55,830 And he started standing at attention. "Yes, I'll be there." 254 00:15:55,913 --> 00:16:00,251 And he hung up, and he said, "We're going to Houston!" 255 00:16:00,334 --> 00:16:02,378 [triumphant music playing] 256 00:16:02,462 --> 00:16:04,755 [male narrator 1] NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, 257 00:16:04,839 --> 00:16:07,383 22 miles southeast of Houston, Texas. 258 00:16:07,884 --> 00:16:10,636 Dedicated entirely to manned space missions. 259 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,431 Where flight crews are selected and trained. 260 00:16:14,150 --> 00:16:19,312 From astronauts Shepard and Grissom to Glenn, Carpenter, Schirra, and Cooper. 261 00:16:19,937 --> 00:16:24,150 [man] In the early days, one of the obvious facts 262 00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:28,738 was that every one of the astronauts was white Anglo-Saxon male. 263 00:16:29,614 --> 00:16:34,827 I think NASA decided that they were not gonna maintain that tradition. 264 00:16:34,911 --> 00:16:36,829 [all] Hey! Hey! ERA! 265 00:16:36,913 --> 00:16:38,831 Hey! Hey! ERA! 266 00:16:38,915 --> 00:16:40,917 [Crippen] The '70s were such that 267 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,253 we realized we needed to broaden our perspective. 268 00:16:45,713 --> 00:16:51,219 They had a very positive and strong campaign 269 00:16:51,302 --> 00:16:53,346 to encourage women and minorities. 270 00:16:53,429 --> 00:16:57,725 Hi. I'm Nichelle Nichols, but I still feel a little bit like 271 00:16:57,808 --> 00:17:00,610 Lieutenant Uhura on the Starship Enterprise. 272 00:17:00,144 --> 00:17:02,188 [Gregory] And I saw her on the TV one day, 273 00:17:02,271 --> 00:17:04,232 and she pointed directly at me and she said, 274 00:17:04,315 --> 00:17:08,152 "I want you in the astronaut program." And she was talking to me. 275 00:17:08,236 --> 00:17:11,720 This would require the services of people 276 00:17:11,155 --> 00:17:13,866 with a variety of skills and qualifications. 277 00:17:13,950 --> 00:17:15,743 This is your NASA. 278 00:17:15,826 --> 00:17:19,455 The traditions and the legacies no longer counted. 279 00:17:20,164 --> 00:17:24,627 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration today chose the 35 persons 280 00:17:24,710 --> 00:17:28,881 who will ride the space shuttle into orbit and back in the 1980s. 281 00:17:28,965 --> 00:17:32,843 Among them are three Blacks, one Oriental, and six women. 282 00:17:33,928 --> 00:17:37,223 To say that we're pleased with the selection is an understatement. 283 00:17:37,723 --> 00:17:41,394 And it's my pleasure to introduce these people to you this morning, 284 00:17:41,477 --> 00:17:43,646 and I'll do so one at a time. 285 00:17:44,438 --> 00:17:48,985 Major in the United States Air Force, Guy Bluford. 286 00:17:49,944 --> 00:17:54,699 Major Frederick Gregory from United States Air Force, a pilot. 287 00:17:54,782 --> 00:17:59,287 [Gregory] We were the most diverse group of any government hiring. 288 00:18:00,121 --> 00:18:02,206 No one had done this before. 289 00:18:02,290 --> 00:18:04,542 [moderator] Richard Covey, a pilot. 290 00:18:04,625 --> 00:18:11,132 There clearly were those of us who came from the military test pilot background, 291 00:18:11,215 --> 00:18:16,120 and then there were those who really had very limited aviation backgrounds 292 00:18:16,950 --> 00:18:20,725 and were engineers, scientists, and medical doctors. 293 00:18:20,850 --> 00:18:23,644 [moderator] Margaret Rhea Seddon, resident physician, 294 00:18:23,728 --> 00:18:27,273 Department of Surgery, City of Memphis Hospital in Memphis. 295 00:18:27,356 --> 00:18:31,944 I was one of the first women astronauts, so that was an exciting time for me. 296 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,197 And that's the first time that all of us got to meet each other. 297 00:18:36,407 --> 00:18:38,784 We were about to start an interesting journey together. 298 00:18:38,868 --> 00:18:42,747 -[moderator] That's the 35 new astronauts. -[applause] 299 00:18:42,830 --> 00:18:46,459 [Covey] TFNG. That was the Class of 1978. 300 00:18:46,542 --> 00:18:48,794 Stands for "Thirty-Five New Guys." 301 00:18:49,295 --> 00:18:53,341 It was a direct takeoff on a military term, FNG, 302 00:18:53,424 --> 00:18:56,520 which stands for "Fucking New Guy." 303 00:18:56,135 --> 00:18:58,471 [male anchor 1] This is the largest class in the history 304 00:18:58,554 --> 00:19:00,139 of the American space program. 305 00:19:00,222 --> 00:19:04,268 Twenty-nine men and, for the first time, six women. 306 00:19:04,352 --> 00:19:08,731 [male anchor 2] The 35 candidates begin two years of unisex interracial training 307 00:19:08,814 --> 00:19:11,192 at the Johnson Space Center, July 1st. 308 00:19:11,776 --> 00:19:15,696 Those who pass will become astronauts, ready for advanced instruction as members 309 00:19:15,780 --> 00:19:19,909 of the seven-person crews who will fly the space shuttle in the 1980s. 310 00:19:20,493 --> 00:19:25,247 We're gonna show a bunch of slides to get you all organizationally oriented. 311 00:19:25,331 --> 00:19:29,877 Four members of our 1978 class ended up on the Challenger crew. 312 00:19:30,586 --> 00:19:36,592 There was Ellison Onizuka, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair, and Judy. 313 00:19:37,718 --> 00:19:40,679 [Brokaw] Judy Resnik, a native of Akron. The holder of a Doctorate 314 00:19:40,763 --> 00:19:43,224 in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. 315 00:19:43,307 --> 00:19:46,435 She is single, she plays the piano, and she's a runner. 316 00:19:46,519 --> 00:19:48,562 When you were a little girl growing up in Akron, Ohio, 317 00:19:48,646 --> 00:19:50,815 did you say, "Gee, I'd like to be an astronaut some day"? 318 00:19:50,898 --> 00:19:52,566 No, I really didn't think about it until 319 00:19:52,650 --> 00:19:55,277 NASA announced that they were looking for astronauts 320 00:19:55,361 --> 00:19:58,322 who would be engineers and scientists on the space shuttle. 321 00:19:58,406 --> 00:20:01,617 It was accidental that I heard about it, and I just took a chance and applied. 322 00:20:01,700 --> 00:20:05,790 [Covey] Here she was with this group of astronauts 323 00:20:05,162 --> 00:20:07,540 and just fit in perfectly. 324 00:20:08,374 --> 00:20:12,169 [Seddon] When we went down on a trip to the Kennedy Space Center, 325 00:20:12,253 --> 00:20:17,910 we were given a tour of the launch pads and the assembly buildings and everything. 326 00:20:17,174 --> 00:20:19,635 And then they took us over to the crew quarters. 327 00:20:20,261 --> 00:20:23,180 When Judy went through, her name was on one of the doors. 328 00:20:23,764 --> 00:20:27,351 And she was showed into the room, and they had pink satin sheets. 329 00:20:27,893 --> 00:20:31,210 Well, Judy was not amused, shall we say. 330 00:20:35,609 --> 00:20:38,779 [Brokaw] What happens when you meet a man who's not in the space program 331 00:20:38,863 --> 00:20:41,949 and doesn't know who you are, and you say, "I'm an astronaut." 332 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,410 Does he say, "Yeah, you're too cute to be an astronaut. 333 00:20:44,493 --> 00:20:47,246 Come on, little lady! You can't be an astronaut." [chuckles] 334 00:20:47,329 --> 00:20:50,583 -I just tell them I'm an engineer. -You don't tell them you're an astronaut? 335 00:20:50,666 --> 00:20:52,100 Not unless he asks. 336 00:20:54,420 --> 00:20:57,600 [Brokaw] You expect to be up there at some future time, 337 00:20:57,890 --> 00:21:00,134 and you'll be operating something called an RMS. 338 00:21:00,217 --> 00:21:02,178 [Resnik] That's a Remote Manipulator System. 339 00:21:02,261 --> 00:21:06,891 It's a fancy word for a very long arm, which is as long as the cargo bay, 340 00:21:06,974 --> 00:21:10,936 it's 50 feet long, and it works just like a human arm, it has a shoulder… 341 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,522 [Seddon] She was very serious about what she was gonna do, 342 00:21:13,606 --> 00:21:17,776 and she didn't want to be singled out because she was a female. 343 00:21:17,860 --> 00:21:19,612 [RMS motor whirring] 344 00:21:19,695 --> 00:21:21,697 [Brokaw] When do you expect to go up in the shuttle? 345 00:21:21,780 --> 00:21:25,993 It's gonna be a few years, for us who are relatively new. 346 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:27,328 But it's worth the wait. 347 00:21:27,411 --> 00:21:29,497 -You'll be patient enough. -I'll try. 348 00:21:30,831 --> 00:21:33,626 ["Fly Like An Eagle" by Steve Miller Band playing] 349 00:21:35,836 --> 00:21:37,755 [Seddon] I think they tried to predict 350 00:21:37,838 --> 00:21:40,508 anything that might happen and train you for it. 351 00:21:42,551 --> 00:21:45,540 "Here's how you get out of the shuttle if you need to. 352 00:21:45,137 --> 00:21:48,516 Here's how you run across the gantry way. You jump into these baskets 353 00:21:48,599 --> 00:21:50,768 that are gonna take you down to the ground." 354 00:21:50,851 --> 00:21:54,104 ♪ Time keeps on slippin' Slippin', slippin' ♪ 355 00:21:54,188 --> 00:21:57,691 [Seddon] If something happened on orbit, if there's a fire on the pad… 356 00:21:57,775 --> 00:21:59,568 We trained for all those things. 357 00:21:59,652 --> 00:22:03,322 ♪ I want to fly like an eagle ♪ 358 00:22:03,405 --> 00:22:05,115 ♪ To the sea ♪ 359 00:22:05,658 --> 00:22:07,576 ♪ Fly like an eagle… ♪ 360 00:22:07,660 --> 00:22:10,120 [male anchor] NASA hopes the six women and 29 men 361 00:22:10,204 --> 00:22:12,122 will make it through the two years of training. 362 00:22:13,624 --> 00:22:16,252 The space shuttle is scheduled to begin in two years, 363 00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:18,796 and all 35 astronauts will be needed. 364 00:22:21,966 --> 00:22:26,262 What we learned is that it was not an individual sport. It was a team sport. 365 00:22:26,345 --> 00:22:29,265 [man] I think you'll find the operations that you're gonna get involved in 366 00:22:29,348 --> 00:22:31,559 in the future to be very interesting and very challenging. 367 00:22:31,642 --> 00:22:35,620 ♪ I want to fly like an eagle ♪ 368 00:22:35,145 --> 00:22:36,772 ♪ To the sea ♪ 369 00:22:36,855 --> 00:22:38,691 ♪ Fly like an eagle ♪ 370 00:22:38,774 --> 00:22:40,818 ♪ Let my spirit carry me ♪ 371 00:22:40,901 --> 00:22:43,904 ♪ I want to fly like an eagle ♪ 372 00:22:43,988 --> 00:22:48,200 [Gregory] We had to handle a lot of challenges that, up to that point, 373 00:22:48,284 --> 00:22:51,245 we had never been exposed to. 374 00:22:51,954 --> 00:22:53,998 ["Fly Like An Eagle" continues] 375 00:23:01,171 --> 00:23:04,300 ♪ Time keeps on slippin' Slippin', slippin' ♪ 376 00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:07,303 -[indistinct chattering] -♪ Into the future ♪ 377 00:23:08,679 --> 00:23:12,141 People talk about a "trial by fire." I think we had a trial by water. 378 00:23:13,976 --> 00:23:16,770 Because one of the first things that we had to do 379 00:23:16,854 --> 00:23:19,231 was water survival down in Florida. 380 00:23:19,315 --> 00:23:20,733 [man] Get your heels in the water! 381 00:23:21,317 --> 00:23:24,486 [Seddon] We would be flying in the backseat of the NASA jets, 382 00:23:24,570 --> 00:23:28,407 and if we ejected and came down in the water, we had to know how to survive. 383 00:23:28,490 --> 00:23:29,658 [helicopter whirring] 384 00:23:29,742 --> 00:23:30,868 [man] Good job! 385 00:23:30,951 --> 00:23:32,620 [Seddon] I was kind of afraid of the water 386 00:23:32,703 --> 00:23:34,204 and was struggling. 387 00:23:35,497 --> 00:23:37,333 I noticed that Ron was too. 388 00:23:38,208 --> 00:23:40,440 He said, "I'm not much of a swimmer. 389 00:23:41,337 --> 00:23:43,839 They didn't have very many swimming pools 390 00:23:43,922 --> 00:23:46,550 for us folks back in South Carolina, growing up." 391 00:23:48,594 --> 00:23:50,950 [McNair] Way back in high school, 392 00:23:50,179 --> 00:23:52,848 I had the thoughts of science and space, astronauts, etc. 393 00:23:52,931 --> 00:23:56,727 But, you know, where I came from, you know, that wasn't the kind of thing 394 00:23:56,810 --> 00:23:58,270 a Black kid thought about. 395 00:23:58,354 --> 00:24:01,273 You know, how do you get to do something like that? What do you? 396 00:24:01,774 --> 00:24:05,110 [woman] Ron was from a rural part of South Carolina. 397 00:24:07,112 --> 00:24:12,326 When he was in school, he went to the city library to check out a book. 398 00:24:13,952 --> 00:24:18,332 At that time, African Americans were not allowed to check out books, 399 00:24:18,415 --> 00:24:20,417 but he didn't wanna leave. 400 00:24:20,501 --> 00:24:23,921 There was quite a disturbance, and even the police came, 401 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:26,382 and his parents were called, 402 00:24:26,465 --> 00:24:29,510 and he said, "I just wanna check a book out." 403 00:24:30,636 --> 00:24:32,763 Well, he did finally get the book. 404 00:24:33,597 --> 00:24:38,644 He said, "Armed with preparation and armed with determination," 405 00:24:38,727 --> 00:24:40,729 he passed these obstacles. 406 00:24:43,190 --> 00:24:45,859 [Covey] Ron McNair was relatively quiet, 407 00:24:46,527 --> 00:24:50,614 but he was extraordinarily skilled at karate. 408 00:24:51,323 --> 00:24:52,324 Hyah! 409 00:24:53,742 --> 00:24:56,286 He was an accomplished saxophonist. 410 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,410 Those were the ways that Ron spoke out. 411 00:25:01,709 --> 00:25:04,461 [Cheryl McNair] Ron worked in Hughes Research Laboratories. 412 00:25:04,545 --> 00:25:08,132 He came home one day and said, 413 00:25:08,215 --> 00:25:13,530 "This was in my mailbox, and it's an application to become an astronaut. 414 00:25:13,137 --> 00:25:14,304 What do you think?" 415 00:25:14,388 --> 00:25:16,140 I said, "Well, what do you think? 416 00:25:16,980 --> 00:25:19,435 That sounds exciting to me. I think you can do it." 417 00:25:22,730 --> 00:25:27,526 And he said, "Hmm… Yeah. I think I can." 418 00:25:50,215 --> 00:25:51,425 [cage whirring] 419 00:25:56,180 --> 00:26:01,143 [Covey] By 1980, the class of '78 was done with our training, 420 00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:05,147 and we were all waiting to fly. The space shuttle was on the horizon. 421 00:26:08,108 --> 00:26:11,528 [male anchor] The shuttle is the result of nine years of compromise, negotiation, 422 00:26:11,612 --> 00:26:12,821 and cost overruns. 423 00:26:12,905 --> 00:26:15,699 Soon, we'll begin to find out if it was all worth it. 424 00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:19,536 It is the most complex space vehicle man has ever built. 425 00:26:21,205 --> 00:26:23,624 [Harwood] I was always both utterly impressed 426 00:26:23,707 --> 00:26:25,667 and scared to death of the space shuttle. 427 00:26:26,335 --> 00:26:28,253 It's just a simple respect 428 00:26:28,337 --> 00:26:31,799 for machines that are operating at the very limit of human engineering. 429 00:26:32,758 --> 00:26:35,520 [engine revving] 430 00:26:35,135 --> 00:26:37,540 I don't think there's ever been a machine 431 00:26:37,137 --> 00:26:40,682 that comes anywhere near the shuttle in terms of sheer complexity. 432 00:26:43,435 --> 00:26:45,562 There were uncounted miles of wiring. 433 00:26:45,646 --> 00:26:48,941 Every sensor had a backup, and most of those sensors had a backup. 434 00:26:50,484 --> 00:26:54,947 The heavier a spacecraft is, the more energy's required to get to orbit… 435 00:26:55,948 --> 00:26:58,659 and the shuttle weighed around 250,000 pounds. 436 00:27:00,410 --> 00:27:04,373 You've gotta get that going more than 85 football fields a second. 437 00:27:05,332 --> 00:27:07,209 And it just turns out that's really hard to do. 438 00:27:09,127 --> 00:27:10,337 One of those engines 439 00:27:10,420 --> 00:27:13,632 could drain a full-size swimming pool in something like 20 seconds, 440 00:27:14,258 --> 00:27:16,900 so you had to have a huge tank. 441 00:27:16,969 --> 00:27:19,930 Now, the boosters that are on the side, they provided 442 00:27:20,130 --> 00:27:22,975 the lion's share of the thrust to get the thing off the pad. 443 00:27:24,434 --> 00:27:27,271 Russia never used solid propellant boosters for any of their spacecraft 444 00:27:27,354 --> 00:27:30,357 'cause they thought they were too dangerous, and the reason why is simple. 445 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:34,111 Once you light a solid propellant booster, you cannot turn it off. 446 00:27:35,700 --> 00:27:36,822 You're going, one way or the other. 447 00:27:36,905 --> 00:27:39,199 And for two minutes, they're gonna be firing. 448 00:27:41,159 --> 00:27:43,996 Any malfunction is potentially catastrophic. 449 00:27:45,873 --> 00:27:49,501 [indistinct radio chattering] 450 00:27:50,794 --> 00:27:53,547 [male narrator] Sunday, April 12th, 1981. 451 00:27:54,470 --> 00:27:58,930 At the Kennedy Launch Site, thousands gather to witness this historic event. 452 00:27:58,927 --> 00:28:01,555 It'll be the first American spaceflight in six years, 453 00:28:02,180 --> 00:28:05,767 the first manned flight using solid rocket boosters, 454 00:28:05,851 --> 00:28:10,314 and the first time a U.S. space vehicle had been manned on its maiden flight. 455 00:28:11,148 --> 00:28:16,194 Across the country and around the world, all eyes were on pad 39. 456 00:28:16,278 --> 00:28:18,447 [tense music playing] 457 00:28:23,785 --> 00:28:27,289 [Ronald Reagan] We're on the cutting edge of technology and discovery. 458 00:28:29,458 --> 00:28:32,669 We are the people who have thrown the windows of our souls 459 00:28:32,753 --> 00:28:34,630 wide open to the sun. 460 00:28:35,505 --> 00:28:38,926 We will follow as we can where our hearts have long since gone, 461 00:28:39,468 --> 00:28:43,138 and progress will be ours for all mankind to share. 462 00:28:44,306 --> 00:28:46,990 Americans have shown the world… 463 00:28:48,143 --> 00:28:50,187 we not only dream great dreams… 464 00:28:52,230 --> 00:28:55,359 we dare to live those great dreams. 465 00:28:59,613 --> 00:29:04,326 [man 1] T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, 466 00:29:04,409 --> 00:29:08,800 six, five, four… We've gone for main engine start. 467 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,420 [triumphant music playing] 468 00:29:22,344 --> 00:29:24,960 [Crippen] When the solid rockets lit, 469 00:29:24,179 --> 00:29:26,723 it's kind of like getting shot off an aircraft carrier. 470 00:29:27,349 --> 00:29:28,976 There's no other ride like it. 471 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,690 [man 2] We have liftoff. Liftoff of America's first space shuttle. 472 00:29:38,944 --> 00:29:41,710 [cheering] 473 00:29:41,154 --> 00:29:43,448 And the shuttle has cleared the tower. 474 00:29:48,704 --> 00:29:51,373 [Gregory] If you watch the audience, some were laughing. 475 00:29:52,820 --> 00:29:54,960 Some were quiet. Some were screaming. 476 00:29:55,544 --> 00:29:59,840 Some were praying, but they were experiencing this thing, 477 00:29:59,923 --> 00:30:01,466 all of them realizing that 478 00:30:01,550 --> 00:30:05,345 this was not like any experience they had ever had before. 479 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:10,225 [man 1] Roger, roll. 480 00:30:16,231 --> 00:30:21,445 [Seddon] For all of us in the '78 class, it was our future. 481 00:30:22,821 --> 00:30:24,614 [cheering and applause] 482 00:30:27,659 --> 00:30:30,787 [man 3] Columbia, Houston. You guys did so good, we're gonna let you stay up there 483 00:30:30,871 --> 00:30:32,748 for a couple days. You're go for on orbit. 484 00:30:32,831 --> 00:30:36,418 ["Hold On Tight" by Electric Light Orchestra playing] 485 00:30:36,501 --> 00:30:40,500 ♪ Hold on tight to your dream ♪ 486 00:30:40,547 --> 00:30:44,760 [Crippen] If you lived through the '70s, we had the Vietnam War going on. 487 00:30:45,510 --> 00:30:47,429 Inflation was pretty darn high. 488 00:30:47,971 --> 00:30:49,848 We had all kinds of race rioting. 489 00:30:50,474 --> 00:30:52,684 So the country needed something to feel good about. 490 00:30:53,810 --> 00:30:55,604 The space shuttle gave 'em that. 491 00:30:55,687 --> 00:30:57,981 ♪ Hold on tight ♪ 492 00:30:58,650 --> 00:31:00,734 Half a million people turned out to say "thank you" 493 00:31:00,817 --> 00:31:03,987 to the space shuttle astronauts with a ticker-tape parade. 494 00:31:04,710 --> 00:31:04,905 [cheering] 495 00:31:04,988 --> 00:31:07,240 ♪ It's a long time to be gone ♪ 496 00:31:07,324 --> 00:31:12,790 [man 1] We have ignition. We have ignition of the solid rocket boosters, and liftoff. 497 00:31:12,162 --> 00:31:14,539 [cheering and applause] 498 00:31:14,623 --> 00:31:17,000 [man 2] The shuttle was really iconic. 499 00:31:17,501 --> 00:31:22,214 [male narrator] Taster's Choice, enjoy it 157 miles above Earth. 500 00:31:22,297 --> 00:31:23,924 It brought national pride. 501 00:31:24,841 --> 00:31:28,950 NASA made it about as sexy as humanly possible. 502 00:31:30,472 --> 00:31:33,160 That captivated people as much as anything. 503 00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:36,937 John Zarella, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 504 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:41,240 For a young reporter like myself, it was a parallel to Apollo. 505 00:31:41,108 --> 00:31:42,901 [male anchor] For the first time in nine years, 506 00:31:42,984 --> 00:31:45,195 American astronauts are taking a walk in space. 507 00:31:45,278 --> 00:31:49,157 [Covey] The shuttle program showed that the United States 508 00:31:49,241 --> 00:31:52,994 was continuing to lead technologically in space. 509 00:31:54,204 --> 00:31:57,582 [female anchor] We're looking at a great picture of the arm and the Earth. 510 00:31:58,333 --> 00:32:02,254 [Seddon] The satellites that we launched ended up providing communications, 511 00:32:02,337 --> 00:32:07,717 providing, eventually, the GPS that we can now tap into to go places. 512 00:32:08,635 --> 00:32:10,887 [man 1] Okay, Dick, good picture of you there. 513 00:32:11,346 --> 00:32:14,150 Being assigned to a space flight was a big deal. 514 00:32:14,975 --> 00:32:20,313 Everybody in the class of '78 all wanted to fly. 515 00:32:20,814 --> 00:32:24,484 ♪ Hold on tight to your dream ♪ 516 00:32:25,735 --> 00:32:27,700 ♪ Yeah ♪ 517 00:32:27,154 --> 00:32:33,785 ♪ Hold on tight ♪ 518 00:32:34,452 --> 00:32:35,996 ♪ To your dream ♪ 519 00:32:42,850 --> 00:32:45,422 [man 2] It's just indescribable to see the world go by this way. 520 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:48,842 [Zarella] NASA had the fleet of shuttles. 521 00:32:48,925 --> 00:32:51,428 You had Columbia, which was the very first one, 522 00:32:51,511 --> 00:32:53,471 and then you had Discovery. 523 00:32:53,555 --> 00:32:56,683 Atlantis came on, and you had Challenger. 524 00:32:58,685 --> 00:33:01,521 [male narrator] The newest orbiter in NASA's fleet, Challenger, 525 00:33:01,605 --> 00:33:03,523 would fly on shuttle flight six. 526 00:33:04,232 --> 00:33:06,568 Many weight saving improvements had been made. 527 00:33:07,569 --> 00:33:11,114 The orbiter itself was almost 2,500 pounds lighter 528 00:33:11,198 --> 00:33:12,657 because of structural changes. 529 00:33:13,533 --> 00:33:18,380 This stack could carry over 17,000 pounds more into orbit than Columbia. 530 00:33:19,122 --> 00:33:22,830 Challenger, you are free to take off now. 531 00:33:22,167 --> 00:33:26,463 [man] Liftoff of the orbiter Challenger, and the sixth flight of the space shuttle. 532 00:33:26,546 --> 00:33:28,840 Sally Ride is scheduled to join four other astronauts 533 00:33:28,924 --> 00:33:30,175 in the cockpit of the Challenger 534 00:33:30,258 --> 00:33:32,520 for the seventh flight of the space shuttle, 535 00:33:32,135 --> 00:33:35,514 and as they say, Ride's ride will be one for the books, 536 00:33:35,597 --> 00:33:37,641 the first American woman to fly in space. 537 00:33:37,724 --> 00:33:40,143 [man] Ignition, and liftoff. 538 00:33:40,227 --> 00:33:44,856 Liftoff of STS-7 and America's first woman astronaut… 539 00:33:45,649 --> 00:33:48,401 [woman] We finally have an inclusion of half the human race, 540 00:33:48,485 --> 00:33:52,113 and that's maybe almost as tough as conquering space. 541 00:33:52,697 --> 00:33:55,575 [man] NASA made a big deal out of what the firsts were, 542 00:33:55,659 --> 00:34:00,121 and Challenger was involved in a lot of the firsts. 543 00:34:00,205 --> 00:34:02,791 You know, the first woman, the first African American… 544 00:34:02,874 --> 00:34:05,919 [Bryant Gumbel] History-making flight of the space shuttle Challenger. 545 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,297 History-making because on board will be America's first Black astronaut, 546 00:34:09,381 --> 00:34:12,133 Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Guion "Guy" Bluford. 547 00:34:12,217 --> 00:34:16,346 [man] We have liftoff. Liftoff, 32 minutes after the hour… 548 00:34:16,429 --> 00:34:18,848 [Ronald Reagan] Every one of these launches of the shuttle 549 00:34:18,932 --> 00:34:20,559 is a noteworthy event, 550 00:34:20,642 --> 00:34:22,644 but Guy, congratulations. 551 00:34:22,727 --> 00:34:27,315 You are paving the way for many others, and you're making it plain 552 00:34:27,399 --> 00:34:31,486 that we are in an era of brotherhood here in our land. 553 00:34:37,158 --> 00:34:40,370 [Onizuka] There are a lot of outcomes from these projects which will affect 554 00:34:40,453 --> 00:34:43,707 both our society and the rest of the world. 555 00:34:44,708 --> 00:34:48,300 [Gregory] El Onizuka was the first Asian American to fly, 556 00:34:48,628 --> 00:34:51,890 but that was not important for him. 557 00:34:51,172 --> 00:34:54,551 He was just an American flying on an American program, 558 00:34:55,218 --> 00:34:58,221 and that someone said, "You're the first Asian American to fly," 559 00:34:58,305 --> 00:35:00,849 and he would probably have said, "Oh, really?" 560 00:35:00,932 --> 00:35:02,559 [laughs] 561 00:35:03,226 --> 00:35:07,220 [male anchor] This is 32-year-old astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka. 562 00:35:07,105 --> 00:35:11,735 Onizuka was a staff flight test engineer at Edwards Air Force Base, California. 563 00:35:12,944 --> 00:35:16,656 [Covey] Ellison was a Japanese American from Hawaii. 564 00:35:17,324 --> 00:35:24,800 He prided himself on Hawaiian food, and, specifically, uh, roasting a pig. 565 00:35:24,664 --> 00:35:28,793 [Covey] That was his big deal, digging the pit, getting all the banana leaves. 566 00:35:28,877 --> 00:35:32,297 [Crippen] We'd get it up on the table, and we just pulled it apart. 567 00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:34,591 It was pretty hot, you would burn your hands, 568 00:35:34,674 --> 00:35:37,469 but there was always a cold beer there to cool 'em off. 569 00:35:38,940 --> 00:35:40,130 Ellis was a fun kind of a guy. 570 00:35:40,472 --> 00:35:42,265 [Covey] He found humor in everything. 571 00:35:42,599 --> 00:35:44,768 My wife and I, Cathy, had just put in a swimming pool, 572 00:35:44,851 --> 00:35:46,728 and we were having a party. 573 00:35:47,812 --> 00:35:50,857 El and I actually flew to Florida in a NASA T-38 574 00:35:50,940 --> 00:35:55,280 and put two bushels of Florida oysters in the travel pod, 575 00:35:55,111 --> 00:35:56,363 brought 'em back to Houston. 576 00:35:56,446 --> 00:35:58,198 And so, he was shucking oysters, 577 00:35:58,281 --> 00:36:00,909 and we included people other than the Astronaut Office. 578 00:36:01,618 --> 00:36:04,662 And one of them went over to El. And El shucks him some oysters, 579 00:36:04,746 --> 00:36:09,167 and he says, "So, did Mrs. Covey hire you to do this?" 580 00:36:09,250 --> 00:36:13,797 El, just straight-faced, looked at him and said, "I'm Mrs. Covey's houseboy. 581 00:36:14,297 --> 00:36:18,301 I just stay over to shuck oysters." And he goes, "Oh, okay." 582 00:36:18,385 --> 00:36:21,930 Somebody says, "You dummy, that's an astronaut!" [laughs] 583 00:36:22,847 --> 00:36:25,684 [male anchor] Local residents and friends and neighbors of Ellison 584 00:36:25,767 --> 00:36:28,311 salute Hawaii's very first astronaut. 585 00:36:39,781 --> 00:36:42,325 [June Scobee Rodgers] NASA's public affairs office… 586 00:36:42,409 --> 00:36:45,245 was on top of making stories. 587 00:36:46,371 --> 00:36:51,751 They were very smart about what they wanted the public to know. 588 00:36:52,669 --> 00:36:56,297 Managers were trying to convey 589 00:36:56,923 --> 00:37:03,638 that the shuttle is a safe vehicle that flies like a commercial aircraft. 590 00:37:05,140 --> 00:37:08,184 Even though they knew that there were tremendous risks. 591 00:37:09,436 --> 00:37:12,147 [male anchor] We have joined the flight crew for the 41-D mission, 592 00:37:12,230 --> 00:37:13,440 now having breakfast. 593 00:37:13,523 --> 00:37:17,110 Judy Resnik will become America's second woman in space. 594 00:37:18,153 --> 00:37:21,300 She'll also operate the Canadian-built robot arm. 595 00:37:22,615 --> 00:37:25,660 [Harwood] Before every launch, I used to write profiles of the astronauts. 596 00:37:26,244 --> 00:37:29,539 These were detailed, 1,500-word stories about their lives. 597 00:37:30,623 --> 00:37:33,710 I didn't write 'em because I thought people would print them in the newspaper. 598 00:37:33,793 --> 00:37:35,753 I wrote 'em because if something happened, 599 00:37:35,837 --> 00:37:38,256 if you make it past tense, it's an obituary. 600 00:37:38,339 --> 00:37:42,969 [man 1] This is Mission Control Houston. All positions have given a go for launch. 601 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:47,182 [man 2] Seven, six, five… We have main engine start. 602 00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:49,476 -[woman] Cut off. -[man 2] We have a cut-off. 603 00:37:50,685 --> 00:37:52,270 [male anchor] Engines have been shut off. 604 00:37:52,353 --> 00:37:54,939 [Harwood] In 1984, on Discovery's maiden flight, 605 00:37:55,230 --> 00:37:58,401 you could see paint on the body flap of the orbiter. It was on fire. 606 00:37:58,485 --> 00:38:00,904 [male anchor] A major problem, this has never happened before. 607 00:38:00,987 --> 00:38:04,365 You're realizing that that external tank, just a few feet away has got 608 00:38:04,449 --> 00:38:07,827 a half-million gallons of, you know, hydrogen and oxygen on board. 609 00:38:07,911 --> 00:38:08,828 It is a bomb. 610 00:38:09,829 --> 00:38:12,665 So the fire extinguisher system on the pad came on, 611 00:38:12,749 --> 00:38:15,293 and you know, bathing the aft of the orbiter in water, 612 00:38:15,376 --> 00:38:17,837 and there were no problems. Crew got out just fine, 613 00:38:17,921 --> 00:38:19,839 but it was a very, very scary moment. 614 00:38:21,299 --> 00:38:22,842 "Close calls," NASA calls those. 615 00:38:23,593 --> 00:38:27,263 Well, NASA had quite a few close calls before the Challenger accident. 616 00:38:27,347 --> 00:38:32,393 [male anchor] So the STS-8 flight crew will be making its way to launch pad 39-A. 617 00:38:32,477 --> 00:38:37,357 We are having a thunderstorm in the area of the launch pad at this time. 618 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:39,359 What would be the effect of a lightning strike 619 00:38:39,442 --> 00:38:40,818 on the vehicle in flight? 620 00:38:41,319 --> 00:38:44,656 We don't intend to launch if there's any possibility of that happening. 621 00:38:44,739 --> 00:38:47,330 That's just out of the question. 622 00:38:47,116 --> 00:38:48,660 [thunder rumbling] 623 00:38:49,869 --> 00:38:53,331 In fact, lightning actually hit the pad, but they went ahead and launched that day. 624 00:38:53,414 --> 00:38:55,416 [man] We have liftoff, liftoff. 625 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:59,870 Thirty-two minutes after the hour, and the shuttle has cleared the tower. 626 00:39:00,672 --> 00:39:05,930 [Seddon] My husband had a flight that had a lot of tile damage. 627 00:39:05,176 --> 00:39:08,179 Hoot knew it was there. He thought he was gonna die, coming home, 628 00:39:08,263 --> 00:39:12,183 but NASA did not want to admit that it was there. 629 00:39:15,353 --> 00:39:17,564 My view is we had a few 630 00:39:17,647 --> 00:39:20,650 close calls along the way, not that we had a lot of them. 631 00:39:21,568 --> 00:39:24,195 I was in charge of most of the space shuttle flights. 632 00:39:25,154 --> 00:39:29,701 Every flight, one after the other, was fine, and it built our confidence. 633 00:39:29,784 --> 00:39:30,785 We're standing by. 634 00:39:31,494 --> 00:39:33,246 -[man] Touchdown. -[tires squealing] 635 00:39:33,329 --> 00:39:35,290 [cheering and applause] 636 00:39:38,334 --> 00:39:40,336 Congratulations to everyone in the room, 637 00:39:40,420 --> 00:39:42,880 and anyone that had anything to do with the program. 638 00:39:43,548 --> 00:39:47,427 [Zarella] I don't think anybody would ever deny that NASA had a streak of arrogance. 639 00:39:47,510 --> 00:39:48,636 "We can do anything. 640 00:39:49,262 --> 00:39:52,724 We've proved we can do anything. We put humans on the moon." 641 00:39:52,807 --> 00:39:57,200 [male anchor] Neil Armstrong, standing on the surface of the moon. 642 00:39:57,729 --> 00:40:03,109 NASA's success breeded arrogance, and they'd been extremely successful. 643 00:40:03,776 --> 00:40:05,445 [man 1] Apollo 13 is go. 644 00:40:05,528 --> 00:40:10,742 [man 2] Back in the early '70s, they had a spacecraft halfway to the moon 645 00:40:11,367 --> 00:40:13,620 blow up and lose part of the spacecraft. 646 00:40:14,329 --> 00:40:18,458 [man 3] Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt. 647 00:40:18,541 --> 00:40:20,209 [man 4] That's number five engine down. 648 00:40:20,293 --> 00:40:21,169 [man 5] Roger. 649 00:40:21,252 --> 00:40:22,920 [man 2] But they got 'em home safely. 650 00:40:23,463 --> 00:40:25,465 [man 6] Splashdown, at this time. 651 00:40:27,910 --> 00:40:31,638 [man 2] NASA had been launching people into space for a quarter of a century. 652 00:40:31,721 --> 00:40:36,309 There hadn't been a single person killed on their way to space in that time. 653 00:40:38,186 --> 00:40:42,273 [Aldrich] Bringing the astronauts back was the number one purpose, 654 00:40:42,357 --> 00:40:44,901 and we felt well-qualified to do that. 655 00:40:44,984 --> 00:40:48,446 I didn't feel we were doing something that's so threatening 656 00:40:48,529 --> 00:40:49,947 we shouldn't have been doing it. 657 00:40:50,782 --> 00:40:54,410 We generally had things that had to be corrected between each flight, 658 00:40:54,494 --> 00:40:57,747 but they were things that just needed to be worked. 659 00:40:57,830 --> 00:40:59,707 [indistinct chattering] 660 00:41:00,416 --> 00:41:03,753 We have a space craft up there that we are coming within two miles of. 661 00:41:05,338 --> 00:41:06,506 How big is it? 662 00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:10,551 -[man 1] If it hits you, it's big enough. -[man 2] If it hits you, it's big enough. 663 00:41:12,845 --> 00:41:15,598 It's hard to look at any one of the close calls NASA had 664 00:41:16,265 --> 00:41:18,851 and say, "That shows that they should have slowed down and stopped." 665 00:41:19,519 --> 00:41:22,772 The problems that we had running up to Challenger were one-offs, 666 00:41:23,439 --> 00:41:27,819 but there was an ongoing problem that had been happening for years. 667 00:41:28,820 --> 00:41:30,321 [explosion] 668 00:41:30,863 --> 00:41:32,615 Morton Thiokol was based in Utah, 669 00:41:32,699 --> 00:41:34,992 and they were responsible for the solid rocket boosters. 670 00:41:36,577 --> 00:41:39,455 The shock wave from those boosters, it was like a mini-earthquake. 671 00:41:39,956 --> 00:41:41,207 [explosion] 672 00:41:42,750 --> 00:41:46,254 At the time, I certainly didn't realize they had a history of problems with them. 673 00:41:48,673 --> 00:41:52,552 [woman] My dad was an engineer, working on the boosters. 674 00:41:52,635 --> 00:41:56,472 He knew that there was a major problem. 675 00:41:58,933 --> 00:42:04,522 I just know my dad and that, you know, he was visibly distraught. 676 00:42:05,815 --> 00:42:09,485 One day, he started shouting profanities, 677 00:42:10,153 --> 00:42:13,156 and he kept saying that nobody would listen. 678 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:19,328 And he said, "I don't care who you tell. The shuttle is going to explode." 679 00:42:25,460 --> 00:42:28,546 [closing theme music playing]