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Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

By Adam Higgenbotham

Higgenbotham’s specialty is combining deeply researched journalism with well-written storytelling. The emotional center of these stories, whether the focus is on nuclear meltdowns (Midnight in Chernobyl) or space shuttle explosions (Challenger), is on the human element — the heroism of regular people in response to catastrophes, but also the costs in terms of human lives lost as a result of them, and also the inevitable human errors that caused the catastrophes in the first place.

On January 28, 1986, just seventy-three seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board. Because the launch was televised, millions of people saw the explosion and yet, most of us know little beyond that fact — and that memory is receding as more years pass.

The book, Challenger, follows the development of NASA’s space program through its infancy all the way to present day. It’s an inspiring story. Higgenbotham draws particular attention, however, to the three tragedies that have marred NASA’s record — of which the Challenger explosion was the middle one — and in so doing, makes it very clear that all of them were the result of human ego, political pressure, and an an emphasis on speedy results over safety. In other words, all were preventable. In other words, advances in technology cannot entirely save us from ourselves.

Paperback