35 years since Challenger launch disaster: 'Never forgotten'
by Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
Posted Jan 28, 2021 2:57 pm EDT
Last Updated Jan 28, 2021 at 2:58 pm EDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA leaders, retired launch directors, families of fallen astronauts and space fans marked the 35th anniversary of the Challenger disaster on Thursday, vowing never to forget the seven who died during liftoff.
The pandemic kept this year’s remembrance more muted than usual.
Barely 100 people — all masked and seated or standing far apart — gathered in front of Kennedy Space Center’s Space Mirror Memorial. The late morning ceremony was held almost exactly the same time as the accident shortly after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986.