Dark History - 130: Dark History: The Hidden Truth Behind the Challenger Explosion

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Hi friends, happy Wednesday! The Challenger disaster is considered one of the worst tragedies in American history. It’s seared into our minds. But do we have any idea what went wrong? Like… why did it happen and who is responsible? So friends… I dug deep and found some answers. And lemme tell ya… I got some questions for NASA. I appreciate you for coming by, and tune in next week for more Dark History.  Want some cool Bailey Merch?  Shop Dark History Merch: https://www.baileysarian.com _______ You can find the Dark History podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts, and every Thursday here on my YouTube for the visual side of things.  Apple Podcast- https://www.apple.co/darkhistory Dark History Merch-  https://www.baileysarian.com _______ FOLLOW ME AROUND   Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d  Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail]  Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail:  Bailey Sarian  4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300  Burbank, CA 91505 _______ This podcast is Executive Produced by: Bailey Sarian, Dunia McNeily from 3arts, Kevin Grosch, and Matt Enlow From Made In Network Writers: Katie Burris, Xander Elmore,  Allyson Philobos, Joey Scavuzzo, and Bailey Sarian Research provided by: Coleen Smith Production Lead: Brian Jaggers Post Supervisor: Kelly Hardin  Production Management: Ross Woodruff Hair: Prince Angel Makeup: Roni Herrera I'm your host --  Bailey Sarian ________ Visit https://www.Audible.com/DARKHISTORY or text DARKHISTORY to 500-500. New users can try Audible premium plus for free for 30 days.  We have a special deal for our audience: Get your first visit for only five dollars at https://www.Apostrophe.com/DARKHISTORY when you use our code: DARKHISTORY. That’s a savings of fifteen dollars! This code is only available to our listeners.

Changing a light bulb should be simple. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Uh oh, that's not supposed to happen. Quickly submitting and tracking a claim on the Bel Air Direct app actually is simple. Bel Air Direct, insurance simplified. I loved Sesame Street. Did you know it was almost called 123 Avenue B?

Yeah, true story. Now besides Elmo, Big Bird was my favorite. I mean he's just so incredible. Such a loving bird. I just want to hug him and stuff. But did you know Big Bird almost did a crazy collab with NASA? Yeah and it almost got his feathery ass killed. In the mid 1980s, Americans were pretty meh about our whole space program, so NASA wanted to recapture the imagination of the country's kids. In 1986, their plan was to strap Big Bird into a rocket, along with a full crew, and send him to space

aboard the Challenger space shuttle. For some reason, it didn't work out, and then the unthinkable happened. 73 seconds after liftoff, the Challenger exploded on live TV. Did you know the Challenger disaster is considered one of America's worst tragedies? It seared into so many people's minds. But so many have no idea what went wrong. Like, why did it happen and who was responsible?

So friends, I dug deep and found some answers. And let me tell you, I got some questions for NASA. This is the dark history of the Challenger disaster. Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. It might be happy, but either way it's our dark history.

So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot juicy history. Goss. Here's a fun fact for you. I love a fun fact. Did you know that a bunch of guys who worked for Nazi Germany helped build NASA? I know. I'm sorry to throw you right into the deep end, but true story. There you go.

There was a top secret government program called Operation Paperclip where more than 1,600 German scientists were scooped up after World War II, no questions asked, and brought to America. And the United States was like, hey, we'll look the other way, everybody makes mistakes. And essentially let some of the scientists off the hook for their involvement in the Nazi party, as long as they did a couple jobs for us. Some of those new jobs the Nazi scientists got included helping build the United States space program. And that's just the beginning of the storm, really.

You see, one of the reasons we were so quick to hire a bunch of people we had just fought a world war with is because another war was already ramping up. The Cold War. World War II was barely over and almost immediately the US and the Soviet Union were at each other's throats. By 1950 the Soviet Union had their own atomic weapons and this meant that if a full-on war broke out it would wipe out humanity. So it never became an actual war with fighting, just America and the Soviets staring at each other like,

don't push me, swear to God I'll do it. It was a game of chicken. That's why it's called the Cold War. There you go. Thank you for coming. Just kidding. So for almost 50 years, the US and the Soviet Union were in competition with each other for essentially everything.

And one of those things was who could get to space first. That's right, it was called the space race. Both the Americans and the Soviets saw space as like the final frontier. It was almost like whoever got there first was the smartest, had the best technology, and of course, would have the biggest bragging rights. All this was important because of how big a role technology

played in the last war. Some say around 85 million people were killed in World War II, and it featured all sorts of new tech that made killing huge numbers of people easier. Science was advancing very fast and putting people in space become like the most sought after achievement. Luckily NASA and the space program had a ton of public support in the early days of the 50s and 60s. American citizens bought into the space race and they wanted to beat the Soviets.

At least that's what they made us believe. So it's morphed into like this huge patriotic sense of pride thing. And isn't that the best way to get Americans revved up, slap a flag on a rocket and I don't know, I guess we lose our damn minds. It was like the Olympics, but instead of a race around a track, it was a race to space. But then America's worst nightmare came true. Oh, Paul, are you okay? What are you listening to? Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintara? Hmm, I've never heard of that. Is it on audible? Oh, it is? Let me look it up. Good thing I got the app here. Let's see, what is this about? What if you thought you murdered your best friend? Paul, I don't know why you're

listening to this, but okay. And what if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter? After Lucy is found wandering the streets covered in her best friend, Savi's blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. It's been years since that horrible night. A night Lucy can't remember anything about and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. Sounds good, huh? Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again

to solve her friend's murder, even if she is the one who did it. Wow, Paul, that sounds so interesting. I'm gonna have to download that right now. I mean, Audible is the destination for thrilling audio entertainment, you know, with their highly anticipated new releases and next listen recommendations to really grab every type of thriller listener. you can keep your heart rate up month after month with their pulse-pounding collection that you can't hear anywhere else. I mean it really brings thrillers to life, am I right? I mean Paul's over there shaking in his boots.

Visit audible.com slash dark history or text dark history to 500 500. New users can try audible premium for free for 30 days. That's audible.com slash dark history or text dark history to 500 500. Thanks for the recommendation, Paul. I will be giving a listen. On October 4th, 1957, the Soviets launched the first man-made object into orbit.

It was called Sputnik 1. And when the hunk of metal left Earth's atmosphere, Russia essentially won the space race. And America was pissed. They were like, that should have been us. So NASA comes up with a slick move. They're like, yeah, space is cool, but the new thing is actually getting to the moon. Space, who cares? Moon, actual target. Yeah. So we just moved the goalposts

and bought ourselves more time to save face. And guess what? We did it. On July 20th, 1969, America made history. We landed on the moon. I mean, you've all heard the famous saying, that's one step for man, one giant leap for mankind. That was kind of like a nice way of saying,

suck it Russia, we got there first. USA, USA. I mean, we did put a flag on it, we own it now. Every time someone in Russia looks at the moon, they have to pay $5. The summer of 1969 was wild. Ted Kennedy accidentally killed a woman. We landed on the moon.

The Manson family went on a killing spree and then Woodstock happened. So it was a busy year, really was. Even though we beat the Soviets to the moon, NASA didn't just wanna quit there. There was a lot more we beat the Soviets to the moon, NASA didn't just want to quit there. There was a lot more that space travel had to offer. But there was a problem. Americans were kinda over it.

The moon landing was essentially a series finale to them and like, how can you top that? It was such a huge victory that most Americans felt like the battle for space dominance was over. I mean, stick a fork in it, it's done. And if it's done, then why should America keep funding it? So Congress started to cut NASA off. Now the big brains over at NASA had to figure out a way to keep pursuing space travel but with less money.

Low key they also wanted to keep their jobs. And that's why in 1972 the Space Shuttle Program was born. You see, all the rockets and spacecrafts used before 1972, they were single use, but the Space Shuttle, this was designed to be reusable, like period underwear. Eh, it's kind of the same thing. But surprise, surprise, the shuttles were much more expensive than we thought they would be.

Just like period underwear, right? I mean, during their early stages, NASA thought the program would cost about $7.54 billion and about $9 million per flight. So I guess they were a little off the mark. It ended up costing America about 196 billion dollars. Originally they built five shuttles for the special program. They even named them. They were called Endeavor, Discovery, Atlantis, Columbia, and the Challenger. It's kind of cute. Now to be fair the space shuttle program was successful It gave us some amazing satellites and telescopes and it was also a huge part of creating the International Space Station

Which is essentially a floating space lab orbiting the earth So when this program premieres everyone is thinking the US is killing it when it comes to space I mean whatever they come up with next is going to be amazing no matter what. But even with huge advancements and successes, NASA wanted to keep pushing the envelope, like with the Challenger. You see, the Challenger actually had nine other successful flights before the one we're talking about today. In 1983, this very same shuttle brought America's first woman to space and her name

was Sally Ride. They allegedly wanted to prove to the American people that space travel could be safe. I mean, people hope space could be like a tourist destination by like the early 2000s. So NASA introduced a new program where they would put the first average American in space. Specifically, they were going to pick a teacher. So President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project in August of 1984. This program would honor America's teachers and get students across the country

more interested in science and engineering. It's kind of crazy that NASA had to launch a whole PR campaign. I mean, I thought most kids already dream of being an astronaut, but okay, like maybe this is where the idea started. So the application process to become the first teacher in space began,

and around 11,000 teachers applied for the program. Officials reviewed the applications, and from there, that number was narrowed down to 10 finalists who were brought to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Now those 10 teachers were submitted to medical exams, mental and physical tests, and space briefings. I guess there was one teacher who had a total meltdown

during a test where they were pushing the limits of like how long they could go without oxygen. Guess the teacher completely panicked, and the NASA techs had to restrain him and like jam an oxygen mask on his face. On July 19th, 1985, after all those intense exams and tests were all said and done, Vice President Bush announced to the world

that Krista McAuliffe, a 36 year old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won the contest. So Krista was headed to space. She's like, get in loser, we're going to Mars. But for Krista, the work was just beginning. NASA gave her a training manual that was literally one foot thick and she had to know it front to back.

But once the hard stuff was over, Krista was looking forward to some exciting things that would inspire millions of kids all over the world. It's getting warmer and the seasons are changing. And sometimes that means your skin is changing too. Like for me right now, so dry. But I'm trying to get like glowing gorgeous skin like Joan's feathers.

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Once she and her crew left earth, the plan was for Krista to give lessons to kids across the country, like broadcast live into their homes, directly from space. Even today that sounds pretty cool, so everyone must have been pumped in the 80s. They were going to have two live teaching sessions from the Challenger as it orbited Earth, and these would be science lessons taught by Krista, and broadcast on PBS. Then when Krista returned from the trip, she would tour the country and give speeches at schools about her experiences on the Challenger.

And you know that was going to be the best assembly of the year, because back in the day when there was an all-school assembly, it was a real crap shoot. It's either a cringey Christian couple doing raps about abstinence or like, hey look, a real life astronaut. Now the teacher in space project was not the only idea NASA was considering. They were even thinking about bringing celebrities onto the space shuttles so they could get people to care about space again. I guess like so many celebrities wanted to go on this NASA mission.

Apparently a total of 42 different network broadcasters applied, including the big newscasters like Tom Brokaw and Walter Cronkite. And here's where Sesame Street enters the picture. They were approached by NASA to participate. Carol Spinney, the legendary puppeteer behind Big Bird, said quote, I once got a letter from NASA asking if I would be willing

to join a mission to orbit the earth as Big Bird to encourage kids to get interested in space. End quote. It's not totally clear why Spinney, AKA Big Bird didn't end up going, but Spinney points out that Big Bird is eight feet, two inches tall. And you know, there's really no way NASA would let one

person take up that much space on the rocket. But in 2015 NASA did confirm that there were initial conversations with Sesame Street but the plan was never approved by the higher up so no Big Bird. But there were other people. Along with Krista there were six other people in the crew for the Challenger mission. The mission was originally planned to take six full days, but the launch for the Challenger was delayed several times. Which happens a lot for NASA and companies like SpaceX today. Wind, crazy temperatures, and there's a whole bunch of other reasons that can keep rockets on the ground.

In the very beginning, Challenger was supposed to launch in July of 1985, then it got pushed in January of 1986, and then on January 27th, the crew was already strapped into the shuttle, ready to smash that launch button when a technical issue popped up. The launch was pushed for the last time to the next morning, January 28th, and this is when things start to go sideways. It's almost like something was trying to tell NASA

that maybe they shouldn't go through with this mission, but they didn't listen. The night before the launch of the Challenger, it was freezing cold outside, like literally. Temperatures dipped into the low 20s, and by 1.35 a.m., a crew was sent out to inspect the ice forming on the launch pad because this is one of those things that can force NASA to cancel a

launch so this like set off alarm bells for some. A meeting was scheduled to discuss the low temperatures and the kind of problems this would create but NASA was like yeah you know we're good I mean everyone was watching this space launch they couldn't just cancel it. I mean, they could, but like, they didn't wanna. So by 618 a.m. on January 28th, the Challenger crew was awake and eating breakfast. Meanwhile, another ice inspection was completed

and the original liftoff time was delayed so the ice would have a chance to melt. It's like okay they're taking precautions, maybe everything's fine. In the end, despite the cold temperatures and the icy conditions, the skies were clear blue on the day of. And everything seemed perfect for the launch. So they're all buckled in, blip blop loop, and the countdown began. loop and the countdown began. Four, three, two, one. We have liftoff at 11 38 am.

Krista and her six other crew members left Earth's surface and began hurtling towards space. I mean their wildest dreams are coming true. Thousands of American children in schools all across the country were glued to tv sets watching it happen live. And of course, like adults are watching it too, because tons of news outlets were covering this super historic event. So on Mission Control, it's like the place where scientists

and engineers help operate the shuttle from the earth, everyone there was buzzing. They're all excited about what they're witnessing. So people are like cheering and crying and just really taking in this incredible moment. Oh my God, there's like a teacher going to space. It's incredible.

And there had been so much buildup and finally happened. You know, well, we're here. So shit did not go right. But then just 73 seconds after takeoff, pilot Michael J. Smith's voice came over the intercom in the crew cabin. And the very last thing he said was, uh-oh, and then students watched live in their classrooms

and everyone's watching all over the place, all over the country, you know? The Challenger exploded. Oh my God. Everyone watching was horrified. I mean, seeing they just watched the death of like seven people, which they did. NASA ground crew and mission control were horrified. Everybody watching was completely

shocked as they saw white smoke burst from the rocket. And then the shuttle disappeared from view. The image shown over and over was of a Y-shaped explosion where the shuttle had been. So within just one hour of the explosion, 85% of Americans had heard about the disaster. One of the witnesses who watched it unfold on TV was Carole Spindy. Big Bird. He and the Sesame Street crew took a break from filming to watch the challenger take off. Spindy said, quote, All of a sudden it goes boom and I said,

oh my God, we all started crying. We knew it was a disaster. It made my scalp crawl to think I was supposed to be on that, end quote. I mean, this was tragic, so what the hell went wrong? First and foremost, let's talk about what happened to the crew on the Challenger. All seven crew members were killed in the disaster,

but it's not clear exactly how or when. From the video of the explosion, it seems like all seven astronauts were gone as soon as the explosion happened, like it happened instantly. But as time went on, investigations revealed that the people on board may have lived longer than we thought. There were these oxygen packs that could be turned on in case of an emergency, and it turned out three of the seven had been switched on,

and only someone inside the shuttle could turn them on. So that means some of the crew had to have been awake and conscious enough to do that, even after the explosion. The cabin where the crew was strapped in crashed into the ocean at a speed of 200 miles per hour. So NASA believes that some crew members may have survived the explosion, but they were killed by the impact of the crash.

In the aftermath of the chaos, an investigation was launched to look into what caused the disaster. And friends, what they found did not make NASA look good. Leading up to the launch, the Space Shuttle program had a whole bunch of red flags. The program as a whole was considered safe, but there had been some technical issues.

These didn't result in a disaster, but they did foreshadow what could, and eventually did, happen to the Challenger. Without getting into literal rocket science, let's just quickly get on the same page and learn what an O-ring is, since they're about to come up a lot. I know, when I first heard O-ring, I was picturing something like a Nuva ring. You know, that thing that you pop in the fridge before you pop it into the vag?

Not the same thing. Okay, anyway, back to spaceships. Now the only purpose of these things is to seal gaps when two things like pipes or joints are put together. And the O-ring stops any fluid or gas or whatever is traveling through the pipes from escaping and leaking. You know in fancy glass Tupperware,

there's that rubber ring around the cover? It's pretty much that, okay? It's that. It creates a seal, so whatever's in it is airtight. You get it. I'm glad you do. Well, pretty quickly, investigators found out that the Challenger had a technical failure. And worse than that, NASA knew the O-rings had problems years before the launch.

Let's introduce our other bad guys. A contractor for the space shuttles, a company called Morton Thiokol. Now they're the manufacturer that won the government contract to actually make the rocket boosters for the space shuttles. And as early as 1977, a test revealed that the O-rings were not performing the way they were supposed to. Essentially, the problem was this. The O-rings were not able to maintain a perfect seal. And that was like literally their only job. But when Morton Thiokol reported these results to NASA, they also reported that these results would not cause any significant problems. And let's be clear, we're talking about like teeny tiny measurements here.

Like they underperformed by up to 52 one thousandths of an inch, which I think to you and I is like the same thing as no inches. And I guess like that's how NASA felt too. So I mean, let's give them the benefit of the doubt. They get a pass on the first one. I mean, they reported the problem, but didn't think it was big enough to change anything. That's okay.

Plenty more tests where that came from. You don't just strap a bunch of people, including the nation's most beloved teacher, to a rocket without making sure it's safe first. You would think. You would hope. In fact, people at Marshall Space Center, which was the space shuttle headquarters for NASA, got all of the information

and were able to draw their own conclusions. And they sent a memo saying that the O-rings were, quote, designed efficiency and recommended it be corrected before going any further. Now this was 1977. Challenger took its final flight in 1986, almost a decade after the first people pointed out the problems with the O-Rings. Boo, somebody's in a moth.

Then things get worse. Instead of just ignoring the problem, it straight up stops being reported. The O-rings continued to fail tests, this time after actual flights. In 1981, an inspection was done on a shuttle, and the O-rings had been damaged by the heat they were exposed to during flight. Then, in 1985, a year before the Challenger disaster, O-rings were damaged even further by exposure to extreme heat. This was once again written off as quote-unquote acceptable. So people just kept using them like nothing was wrong. These little O-rings continued to have issues for the next four shuttle flights. Now, O-rings

were having problems not just at high temperatures, but low ones as well. At 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a comfortable afternoon temperature, a failure occurred. And guess what happened? More memos. So different engineers and managers at both NASA and Morton-Thiokol again went back and forth about the O-ring problem. NASA at one point threatened to take away Morton Thiokol's billion-dollar government contract

and give it to a competitor unless they fix the O-ring problem. And there we go, like hit them where it hurts, right? That'll make them change, sort of. Robert Lund, the vice president of engineering at Morton Thiokol, created an O-ring task force to get to the bottom of the issue, I guess. And at least one engineer came up with a proposal

to fix the problem. Now, the problem with that was it was gonna take several years to put his plan into place, meaning both Morton and NASA would have to shut everything down, I mean, for years, and neither of them wanted to do that. NASA wanted to put a regular person in space before kids got distracted by MTV and like stopped caring about science.

I mean, just an observation here, but you know what would really stop kids from caring about science? Maybe watching seven astronauts lose their lives on live television, but okay. We know NASA knew there was issues with the O-Rings, but they sure as hell weren't going to like canceled shuttle launches over it. In October of 1985, another shuttle flight took off.

And maybe you guessed it, more O-Ring problems. One member of the O-Ring task force recommended they stop shipping space shuttle parts with these O-Rings because of how much of a risk they were. But no one ever did anything. Okay, jump ahead. It's the night before the Challenger launches. Remember I mentioned how cold it was overnight? I mean, there was ice on the platform.

The launch had been delayed and it was a whole thing. Well I guess the O-rings got all messed up from the temperature changes. Basically the colder it got, the less they worked. And the temperature outside on the day of the launch was way colder than any time they tested them before. Because of this, engineers at Morton Thiokol strongly recommended not launching the Challenger on January 28th, but their bosses were feeling major pressure from NASA to give the launch the green light. So the engineers, who knew the shuttle the best, were totally ignored.

Alan McDonald, the lead engineer, said directly to NASA before the launch, quote, If anything happens to this launch, I wouldn't want to be the person that has to stand in front of the board of inquiry to explain why we launched. And well, turns out NASA gave Morton-Thiokol a 75 million dollar bonus despite all these O-ring problems. And at the time of the accident, there had been over 25 instances of these O-rings failing.

A manager at Morton Thiokol wrote up a recommendation to continue with the launch, even though all of the engineers involved, including that lead I just quoted, clearly refused to sign it. On the NASA side, even some management took the engineers' warning to heart and recommended against launching. But the highest authorities ignored them and approved liftoff anyway. So on both sides, there were people saying this launch had to be called off. They were pointing out the specific problem that would eventually cause Challenger to explode just a few hours later.

And they were ignored. I mean, think of it like this. Everyone thought the Titanic was quote unquote unsinkable. Tons of tests done on the shuttle pointed out a huge safety issue. And they had nearly a decade to fix it. And they didn't. And some of the engineers who raised their concerns were bullied into silence. In the end, the cause of the disaster was those damn o-rings. They were supposed to seal a joint in one of the shuttle's rocket boosters, but the record low temperatures during the morning of the launch stiffened the rubber o-rings, which meant that they couldn't seal the rocket the right way. Because of this, hot gas from the rocket booster on the right side leaked out and burned its way into the tank that held the liquid fuel. It was this tank that exploded. I'm using quotes around

exploded because it didn't actually explode in the standard definition of the word. There was no detonation shock wave or like loud bang sound. What looked like smoke from an explosion was a cloud of liquid oxygen and hydrogen gas spilling into the atmosphere and then that turned into a fireball. And this is why it's called the Challenger Disaster and not the Challenger Explosion. Now all this caused a chain reaction and when the shuttle disconnected from the fuel tank, it changed the direction it was flying. Because it was traveling so fast, the shuttle was ripped apart. Sadly, seven people died because every single warning was ignored by the people who had power to make sure this would not happen.

This all happened at the time when the space program desperately needed good attention from the public. If they got that, then they could get more funding to keep pushing into space. NASA knew they were bettering humanity with more advanced satellites and things like the space station, but they needed money to keep it up. I mean, it wasn't all good intentions. NASA wanted to remain the biggest dick in the world of space travel, and we Americans historically do not love it when we lose the number one spot in anything. And it wasn't just the Soviet space

program we were up against anymore. The European Space Agency was starting to look like real competition. The space race may have slowed down, but it definitely didn't go away completely. And NASA refused to lose that race. Now don't get me wrong, Morton Thiokol seems like they may have blood on their hands too. They did not want to lose a big government contract by standing up to the very people who gave it to them. I mean NASA was lining Morton's pockets with money. Management at Morton didn't want that to go away.

If Morton really took a stand, like put their foot down, they risked being replaced by a company who would do whatever NASA wanted. The launch of Challenger had already been delayed multiple times, and if the Teacher in Space project was going to make the splash it needed to, NASA had to take advantage of all the attention they were getting from people. So that explains why everyone in power wanted the launch to happen as quickly as possible.

But why did it need to be that day specifically? I mean, if weather was the main concern, couldn't they just like push it another day or two until the conditions were perfect for a safe launch? Who do we blame for that? Friends, put your hands together for a favorite villain in the dark history universe, President Ronald Reagan. He was the one who had announced the Teacher in Space project. And on the evening of January 28th,

President Reagan was set to give his State of the Union address. In this nationally broadcast address, he was going to bring up the Space Shuttle Project and Krista McAuliffe. This would not only be a huge win for his presidency, but also a win for NASA. Millions of people tuned in to watch the State of the Union and this would focus their attention directly on the space program. Hell, it could even renew interest in it.

It was too big of a PR opportunity for Reagan to pass up. And forcing the launch to happen did get NASA tons of publicity, but definitely not the type they wanted. Instead of delivering his State of the Union address, President Reagan postponed it out of respect for the disaster. Instead, he addressed the nation on the tragedy from the Oval Office. He talked about the crew and their sacrifice

as pioneers in space exploration. And he even addressed the children who watched the disaster live. The president acknowledged that they all had learned a hard lesson that day. Disasters sometimes happen. I'm willing to bet a few children changed their dream that day from astronaut

to something safer, like dental assistant. President Ronald Reagan created the Rogers Commission to investigate what went wrong with the Challenger. He appointed all sorts of people like a Nobel Prize winning physicist, aviation experts, and even hired a couple astronauts who were household names like Neil Armstrong and Sally Wright to help investigate. They discovered the many, many conversations and memos about O-Rings and the many attempts

by different engineers to point out the problem. And even though the O-Ring was the main offender, the commission also found that multiple parts of the shuttle were disasters waiting to happen. This mission was doomed long before it began. The O-ring wasn't the biggest issue. I mean, it caused the disaster, but only because it had the chance to. The bigger problem was no one was willing to stand up and do the right thing. It took over three years for another space shuttle launch to happen. And some technical changes were put in place, but the main changes were to the systems of communication at NASA.

Safety needed to be prioritized more, obviously. Like what is the point of sounding an alarm if everyone is going to pretend not to hear it? You know, why even do the safety checks if you aren't going to fix the problems they find? Why are we even asking these questions? I mean, you would think, especially because it's being televised, you know? This is the one time to do the right thing so you don't look like idiots. Five days after the tragedy, President Reagan and NASA held a televised service for the

nation. And to this day, there is a memorial for the crew in Arlington National Cemetery. And then, okay look, by accident or on purpose, I'm not sure, Beyonce memorialized the Challenger in her own way? You know the song XO? The first few seconds of the song is actually audio taken from the Challenger disaster. Fly controllers here looking very carefully at the situation.

Obviously a major malfunction. Very odd choice. I guess it's ground control talking to the shuttle as they realized something horrible happened. This made a lot of people upset. It was very controversial. So next time you hear that song, it's called XO, that's what you're listening to. The Challenger disaster was a tragedy, but the worst part is it didn't have to be.

And NASA's big push to receive more attention and funding, of course, they put political goals above the safety of their astronauts. And seven people lost their lives, and not to mention all the families and viewers who were impacted. This event is a core memory for so many people because of the ties it has to children across America. A whole generation witnessed this disaster live and in school, where the safety of kids, mental or physical, is the most important thing. So instead of being inspired and becoming more enthusiastic about space and science in general,

I mean a whole lot of kids who are adults now associate space travel with, you know, death and explosion. So it just totally backfired. But then again, NASA is the government program that was built with the help of some scientists from Nazi Germany. So do what you will with that information. At the end of the day, I mean, this is just yet another dark history story

where money blinds powerful people from doing the right thing. Isn't it exhausting? Jeez. Now the story of the Challenger disaster is one side of how the government can misuse its power by standing on the sidelines and not doing something. But our next episode is about the other side of the coin, when the government goes out of its way to ruin lives. Back in the 1940s and the 50s, there was a US Senator named Joseph McCarthy,

and he made it his life's mission to cleanse America of communist influence. He did this by weaponizing his power and connections to persecute innocent American citizens. He spread lies, distrust, and fear to create a moral panic all across the land. In what became known as the Lavender Scare, McCarthy targeted and ruined the lives of thousands of queer Americans working in the government. Come back next week when we talk about the dark history of McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare.

Well friends, we made it. Thank you for hanging out with me today. Join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs and while you're there you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story so make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along and see what you're saying. Now let's read a couple of comments you guys left me. Elizabeth Sanchez 9131 left me a comment saying I really hope she's making an actual book about everything she's talking about. Just me. I mean yeah I would love to make a dark history book

because then we can just like talk about everything that maybe we left out in certain episodes and just talk shit too. Thanks, Elizabeth. Stay tuned, maybe one day. Lola Starling 40323 shared, "'Fun fact, Grimace is a taste bud. "'He started as a bad guy who stole the milkshakes and sodas.

I thought you were saying that Grimace is the scientific name of a taste bud and I was like holy shit everything makes sense bro but like okay okay so I get it. Grimace is a taste bud. He started as a bad guy who stole all the milkshakes and sodas. Grimace is a taste bud. He started as a bad guy who stole all the milkshakes and sodas. So you're telling me that purple thing is a taste bud? How do you know this? Are you working on the inside? Did you make Grimace?

How are we supposed to know Grimace was a taste bud? How do you know this information? I've got a lot of questions. Thank you for sharing. Now I'm going to go think about this real hard. Jennifer Morris, 9051, had an episode suggestion for us. Bailey, my one-year-old son loves your videos. I think an episode on the makers of Celestial Tea

would be interesting. I didn't realize Sleepytime Tea supported a cult. What? You can't just, what? Why are you guys always just dropping this stuff on me? And then you just run off. It's like here. And then you take off and then you leave me

to Google all night. I don't get sleep. I'm running on no hours of sleep because I'm up Googling all this stuff you guys send me. First, the taste bud thing got me real fucked up over here. Now celestial tea is supported a support occult? But now I'm just confused. I'm not gonna sleep tonight.

I'm gonna be Googling this. Damn it. Anyways, you guys keep the recommendations in the comments coming. I love you for watching and I love you for engaging. Don't forget to comment, because maybe you'll be featured. Or maybe you won't.

Either way, I love you. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audi boom original and I'm your host Bailey Sarian I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you next week Goodbye