- 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 wanna 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's 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. (upbeat music) 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? (lamenting trombone plays)
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. It was 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's a game of chicken. That's why it's called the Cold War. There you go. Thank you for coming. I'm 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
fifties and the sixties. 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? (patriotic music)
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. (mysterious music) Oh, Paul, are you okay? Girl, what are you listening to? "Listen for the Lie" by Amy Tintera? 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? Oh. After Lucy is found wandering the streets covered in her best friend Savvy'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/darkhistory or text "Dark History" to 500-500. New users can try Audible
Premium for free for 30 days. That's audible.com/darkhistory or text "Dark History" to 500-500. Thanks for the recommendation, Paul. I will be giving a listen. (mysterious music) On October 4th, 1957, the Soviets launched the first
manmade 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 kinda 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.
(cash register dings) 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 want to quit there. There was a lot more that
space travel had to offer. But there was a problem. Americans were kind of 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,
you know, 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. (crickets chirping) 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? Geez. I mean, during the 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. Originally they built five
shuttles for this special program and they even named them. They were called Endeavour, 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 gonna 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 hoped 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/ I 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 Christa Mcauliffe, a 36-year-old high school
social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won the contest. So Christa was headed to space. She's like, "Get in, loser,
we're going to Mars." But for Christa, 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, Christa was looking forward
to some exciting things that would inspire millions
of kids all over the world. (mysterious music) It's getting warmer and
the seasons are changing and sometimes that means
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(crow caws) They glisten in the sunlight. I wanna glisten. I mean, what moisturizer
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my skin more hydration. You know, she's thirsty. And look, whether you want to
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first visit for only $5. A big thank you to Apostrophe for sponsoring today's episode. And now let's get back to today's story. (mysterious music) Once she and her crew left
Earth, the plan was for Christa 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
like pumped in the eighties. They were going to have
two live teaching sessions from the Challenger as it orbited Earth, and these would be science
lessons taught by Christa and broadcast on PBS. Then when Christa 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 like the best assembly of the
year because back in the day when there was an all
school assembly, it was a, you know, it was a real crap shoot. It's either like 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. Caroll 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-ups. So no Big Bird, but
there were other people. Along with Christa, 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, it 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. At the very beginning,
Challenger was supposed to launch in July of 1985. Then it got pushed to 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 till 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 twenties. And by 1:35 AM, a crew was sent out to inspect the ice
forming on the launchpad 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, "Eh,
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 6:18 AM 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, bleep, blop, bloop, and the countdown began Four. Three. Two. One. We have lift-off at 11:38 AM. Christa 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. It 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, thinking 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 Caroll Spinney, Big Bird. He and the "Sesame Street"
crew took a break from filming to watch the Challenger take off. Spinney 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
like 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 NuvaRing. You know that thing that
you pop in the fridge before you pop it into the vag? (crickets chirping)
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 what
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 all 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. I mean, 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. I mean, 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
a, quote, "design deficiency" 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 pointing out the problems
with the O-rings. Ooh, somebody's in trouble. 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 fixed the O-ring problem. And there we go, like hit
'em where it hurts, right? That'll make 'em 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 gonna like cancel
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 'cause 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, I don't know, major pressure from NASA to
give the launch the green light. So the engineers who
knew the shuttle the best were totally ignored. Allan 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." End quote. Turns out NASA gave Morton
Thiokol a $75 million 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. Mm-mm-mm. 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," you know? 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. I mean, 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 'cause it didn't actually explode in the standard definition of the word. There was no detonation shockwave
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 like 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
Soviets' 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? You know? Who do we blame for that? Friends, put your hands together for a favorite villain in
the dark history universe, President Ronald Reagan. (claps) 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 Christa Mcauliffe. This would not only be a
huge win for his presidency, but also a win for NASA. Millions of people tune in to
watch the State of the Union and this would focus their attention directly on the Space Program. Hell, I mean, it could
even renew interest in it. It was too big of a PR
opportunity for Reagan to pass up. Enforcing 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 are household names, like Neil Armstrong and Sally
Ride, 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. I mean, 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, Beyoncé 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. - [Steve] Flight 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 realize 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. In 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? Geez. Now, the story of the
Challenger disaster is one side of how the government can misuse its power by standing on the sidelines
and like 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 fifties, there was a US senator
named Joseph McCarthy and he made it his life's
mission to cleanse America of Communist influence. Now, he did this by weaponizing
his power in 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, ah, 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 & Makeup. I'd love to hear your guys'
reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the
hashtag #darkhistory 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. Elizabethsanchez9131
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. Lolastarling40323 shared, "Fun
fact: Grimace is a tastebud. He started as a bad guy who stole all the milkshakes and sodas." I thought you were saying that Grimace is the scientific name of a tastebud and I was like, holy shit,
everything makes sense, bro. But like, okay.
(crickets chirping) Okay, so I get it. Grimace is a tastebud. He started as a bad guy who stole all the milkshakes and sodas. So you're telling me that
purple thing is a tastebud? How do you know this? Are you working on the
inside? Did you make Grimace? How are we supposed to know
Grimace was a tastebud? How do you know this information? I've got a lot of questions. Thank you for sharing. Now I'm gonna go think
about this real hard. Jennifermorris9051 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 tastebud thing got
me real fucked up over here. Now Celestial Tea supported a cult? 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 and the comments coming. I love you for watching and
I love you for engaging. Don't forget to comment 'cause
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 Audioboom 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. (soft music) (crow caws)
