The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986, taking the lives of all seven astronauts onboard. On February 1, 2003, the first shuttle to ever reach space, Columbia, broke up in the skies over Texas on reentry, taking the same number of lives.
Now, NASA is displaying wreckage from these tragic events for the first time, in an exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The "Forever Remembered" display features just a single piece from each of the doomed spacecraft. Together with these historic artifacts are personal mementos of the 14 astronauts killed in the pair of disasters.
Family members of the late astronauts contributed to the tribute, which is focused on the lives of the astronauts rather than on the moments of their demises. Therefore, NASA has avoided any pictures of the disasters.
Remnants of Challenger are stored in a pair of underground missile silos at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while recovered pieces of Columbia are kept in locked offices at the civilian space center.
Officials at NASA spent four years designing the exhibit, while keeping news of the project from the general public. This secrecy was designed to help protect the privacy of the survivors of the accidents until the exhibit was quietly opened at the end of June.
Challenger is represented in the display by a 12-foot section of its fuselage, containing the scorched remains of the left-side crew windows, displayed at eye-level. Just beneath the frame where the windows were once affixed, a charred American flag is still visible.
"Challenger and Columbia, they're part of our history, they're part of who we are as a nation and as an agency. And I think it's important to share that part of the story with everyone. It is part of who we are. It needs to be shared," Robert Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center, said.
Following the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA distributed each of the remaining vehicles over the country. Atlantis, constructed in 1985 as the second-to-last shuttle manufactured, is currently on display at the Kennedy Space Center. The new tribute to the lost astronauts is part of the Atlantis exhibit, directly beneath the nose of the fourth shuttle.
Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old schoolteacher from Concord, New Hampshire, was included among the crew of the Challenger on its final flight. Meant to be the first teacher in space, McAuliffe's flight was widely publicized by NASA, and the explosion was witnessed by thousands of schoolchildren watching on live television.
A video previewing the Forever Remembered display is available on the Kennedy Space Center YouTube channel.
