fortunate to have been sitting in the cafeteria having lunch at the time of the explosion instead of being one of the students sitting in class watching it happen. I thought it was a cruel joke when I heard whisperings that Challenger had exploded shortly after takeoff.
I read an article earlier this year on the 40th anniversary of the disaster that said the explosion occurred due to leaks around a couple o-rings. Until my previous job, I had no idea what an o-ring was...now it boggles my mind to know that a tiny piece of round, stretchy material brought down an entire space shuttle. The article also said the o-rings wouldn't have failed on a warmer day as the cooler temperatures either weakened the rings or caused them to contract too much...that hurt my heart to read.
