NASA honors lost, Challenger 25 years ago

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - For many, no single word evokes as much pain:

Challenger.

A quarter-century later, images of the exploding space shuttle still signify all that can go wrong with technology and the sharpest minds. The accident on Jan. 28, 1986, a scant 73 seconds into flight, nine miles above the Atlantic for all to see, remains NASA's most visible failure.

It was the world's first high-tech catastrophe to unfold on live TV. School children everywhere tuned in that morning to watch the launch of the first schoolteacher and ordinary citizen bound for space. Christa McAuliffe never made it. She and six others on board perished as the cameras rolled, victims of stiff O-ring seals and feeble bureaucratic decisions.

Thursday, NASA paused to remember the 17 astronauts lost in the line of duty. The so-called Day of Remembrance, always the last Thursday of January, has special meaning this year. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the launch disaster of the shuttle Challenger.

Flags flew at half-staff at NASA centers nationwide, and NASA officials laid wreaths at various memorials to honor the dead, including at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

NASA's three space-related fatalities, though years apart, occurred within days of one another. Three astronauts were killed in the Apollo 1 launchpad fire on Jan. 27, 1967. Seven more died aboard Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. And the seven-member crew of Columbia perished during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003.

"The legacy of those who have perished is present every day in our work and inspires generations of new space explorers," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said. - AP