Divers find section of space shuttle Challenger

Divers looking for a WWII aircraft off the Florida coast found a 15 foot by 15 foot plus section of the bottom of the space shuttle Challenger. It's one of the biggest pieces found since the accident, and the first since two wing fragments washed ashore in 1996. Approximately 47% of Challenger was recovered. NASA notified the families and is deciding what to do with this piece. Most of the wreckage is stored in abandoned silos at Cape Canaveral, with the exception of a left side panel.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A large section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger has been found buried in sand at the bottom of the Atlantic, more than three decades after the tragedy that killed a schoolteacher and six others.

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center announced the discovery Thursday.

“Of course, the emotions come back, right?” said Michael Ciannilli, a NASA manager who confirmed the remnant's authenticity. When he saw the underwater video footage, “My heart skipped a beat, I must say, and it brought me right back to 1986 ... and what we all went through as a nation."

It's one of the biggest pieces of Challenger found in the decades since the acciden t, according to Ciannilli, and the first remnant to be discovered since two fragments from the left wing washed ashore in 1996.

www.usnews.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Heard this on my way home from work. I was surprised and sad at the same time. Wonder what the odds are.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Notified the families? Why?

a reply to: carewemust

Because it's going to be on the news, and they didn't want them to be blindsided. Families of disasters like this are usually kept in the loop if something is found years later.

I grew up in the Apollo age and the Mercury explosion both the shuttle catastrophes. I watched in tears also when the last retirement flight of the shuttle on the back of a 747 to it final destination.

I hope they find many answers with this wreckage. Thanks for posting.

And R.I.P. to all the hero's that have perished through the years of the Space programs in the pursuit of Space Exploration.

a reply to: carewemust

Why not?

a reply to: Zaphod58

That was a rough one. Practically the entire mission was wrapped around a pleasant, smiling school teacher going into space which elevated and inspired everyone who took an interest in the whole affair.

I remember feeling so sunk after the explosion. I imagined her wonderful smile and sense of wonderment replaced with utter shock and horror, and yeah, it saddened me and my entire class, and most of the school too.

Some kids were crying and hugging each other while teachers and staff attempted to console the distressed students.

Rough day man.

⭐+🇺🇸

I was in the 6th grade when this happened. I remember watching it live in the classroom; though the implications of the failed launch didn't immediately hit me...didnt find out until later that all of the crew had perished.

Its not surprising that they are still finding debris, but it is surprising to have found a piece that large three and a half decades later.

On another note, in 2003, some of the Columbia shuttle debris landed in the opposite end of my neighborhood, about a mile from my home.

originally posted by: EternalShadow
a reply to: Zaphod58

That was a rough one. Practically the entire mission was wrapped around a pleasant, smiling school teacher going into space which elevated and inspired everyone who took an interest in the whole affair.

I remember feeling so sunk after the explosion. I imagined her wonderful smile and sense of wonderment replaced with utter shock and horror, and yeah, it saddened me and my entire class, and most of the school too.

Some kids were crying and hugging each other while teachers and staff attempted to console the distressed students.

Rough day man.

⭐+🇺🇸

There were six other people on that flight, yet all anyone ever remembers is the GD school teacher.

originally posted by: Creep Thumper

originally posted by: EternalShadow
a reply to: Zaphod58

That was a rough one. Practically the entire mission was wrapped around a pleasant, smiling school teacher going into space which elevated and inspired everyone who took an interest in the whole affair.

I remember feeling so sunk after the explosion. I imagined her wonderful smile and sense of wonderment replaced with utter shock and horror, and yeah, it saddened me and my entire class, and most of the school too.

Some kids were crying and hugging each other while teachers and staff attempted to console the distressed students.

Rough day man.

⭐+🇺🇸

There were six other people on that flight, yet all anyone ever remembers is the GD school teacher.

Sorry for being a fourth grader inspired by a teacher. Geezus.

a reply to: Creep Thumper

Because the mission was hyped as being the first teacher in space, and people were inspired by her. I remember all of them, and the others were all honored in other ways. It's common for people to remember something specific about an event like that, and for many it's the fact that she was a teacher.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: carewemust

Because it's going to be on the news, and they didn't want them to be blindsided. Families of disasters like this are usually kept in the loop if something is found years later.

That's interesting. Particularly for a non-personal item like a section of the Challenger itself.

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: carewemust

Why not?

If officials notify next of kin when pieces of Space Shuttle Columbia are found in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, that's cool. If not, that's discrimination in favor of one crew over another.

I remember watching the explosion LIVE...like it was yesterday.
So tragic and heartbreaking.
It was years and years before I watched a launch LIVE again.

Right a reply to: carewemust

I find myself wondering if there's any topic on ATS we members can't turn into an argument.

You never get over the death of someone you loved and lost. I'm glad they won't be blind-sided by the evening news.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The Challenger disaster, literally, changed the course of my life.

At the time, I was part of a team developing a low cost satellite "bus" to be based on the "Getaway Special (G.a.S.)" cannisters that were to be carried in the Shuttle's cargo bay.

The tragic loss of Challenger and her crew all but put an end to non-NASA, non-military space missions, for years to follow.


My father had worked on everything mission from Mercury through Apollo. Sadly, he died just a couple of years before the Moon landing, so Challenger hit me especially hard.

R.I.P. to all those brave enough to reach for the Stars.

Anyone seen this? youtu.be...

a reply to: mytquin

Yes. And NASA said there was evidence that at least two of the astronauts were alive on the way down. I remember hearing that when the accident report was released.

a reply to: mytquin

I hope the families of those lost never do.

The "view whores" of YouTube....smh.

No shame.