Close to four decades
ago, NASA and the American space program faced one of their biggest setbacks
ever. In January 1986, one of the two rocket boosters attached to the space
shuttle Challenger sprung a leak and exploded. The explosion happened
just 73 seconds after the shuttle had taken off and Challenger crashed
into the Atlantic Ocean less than three minutes later, killing all seven
astronauts on board. It was a disaster of epic proportions and one that was
watched live, on television, by millions of Americans. The story of how – and why
– this happened, has been told in bits and pieces in thousands of magazine and
newspaper articles, and on many TV shows. But now we have Adam Higginbotham’s
book, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space,
which was published in 2024 and which is the full, deeply researched,
comprehensive account of what really happened on that day in ’86 and how a multi-million-dollar
piece of machinery fell apart due to sheer carelessness, apathy and
incompetence of those involved. The book is an incisive piece of work, sharp
and very well-written.