THE BURNING BLUE

A 1986 space shuttle disaster killed seven crew members. Why?

In 1984, when Ronald Reagan announced that he wanted to send a teacher into space, Christa McAuliffe, who taught high school social studies in Concord, New Hampshire, applied. From over 11,000 applicants, the upbeat, energetic 36-year-old mother of two was selected to join NASA’s 25th space mission, scheduled to launch in January 1986. That mission ended in tragedy when the Challenger exploded, killing everyone aboard. Journalist Cook draws on NASA’s archives, McAuliffe’s correspondence and family papers, newspaper and TV reports, and interviews with scientists, astronauts, and crew members’ families to create a fast-paced chronicle of the horrific event and its aftermath. McAuliffe’s job, writes the author, was to conduct a few science lessons to be broadcast on PBS, keep a journal, prepare lesson plans for teachers, and, above all, serve as an inspiration for students. Unlike fellow crew member Judith Resnik, who had been American’s second woman in space—after Sally Ride—when she flew in 1984, McAuliffe trained “to eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom in space” but not to interact with any of the 1,300 switches and dials on the flight deck. Cook conveys McAuliffe’s optimistic spirit and occasional doubts as she embarked on her adventure, and he gives a brisk, tense recounting of the shuttle’s final moments, during which the crew was likely to have remained alive for nearly three minutes until the exploded orbiter crashed into the sea. Beginning in February 1986, a presidential commission—including the skeptical physicist Richard Feynman—investigated the crash, albeit with a mandate from Reagan not to “embarrass NASA.” Nevertheless, serious revelations emerged about what NASA knew about mechanical problems, how decisions were made, and why the launch proceeded despite unusually cold weather that compromised equipment. Considerable reforms followed, but not enough to prevent the crash of the Columbia, in 2003.

A vivid, thoroughly researched space history.