Three women prepare lunch while Challenge space shuttle is parked in background (picture from 1983)

#FlashbackFriday: The Exchange and the Challenger Space Shuttle

January 30, 2026

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On Jan. 28, 1986—40 years ago this week—the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff.

The seven crew members—Commander Lt. Col Francis R. “Dick” Scobee (a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel); Pilot Michael J. Smith (captain, U.S. Navy); Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka (an Air Force colonel), Ronald A. McNair and Judith A. Resnik; and Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe (selected for NASA’s Teacher in Space Project)—were killed in the explosion, which made headlines worldwide.

Before the Jan. 28 mission, Challenger flew nine other missions, and there were some Exchange connections:

In the summer of 1984, the entire Redstone Arsenal Exchange team was issued T-shirts featuring Challenger with the mottos “We Challenge You” and “We Want to Be Number 1.” The T-shirts were part of a program to let associates know that “they are truly appreciated and have proved that they can take on and overcome any of the challenges put before them,” Redstone Arsenal Manager Bob Davis, who created the program, told the Exchange Post. Redstone Arsenal is the home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, one of NASA’s largest field centers.

Two men in 1984 photo. — Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr. (left) with Retail Manager Emmett W. Younginer during Bluford’s 1984 visit to the Bitburg Exchange in Germany. In late August/early September 1983, Bluford flew on the third Challenger mission, which was the first to have a night launch and landing.

1985 photo of model wearing spacesuit — Inspired by Sally Ride, who flew on the second Challenger mission (June 1983), Exchange Visual Information Specialist Joe Hobson designed this poster in 1984—with help from NASA, which provided the spacesuit. After doing some research, Hobson learned that NASA would send a spacesuit for the photo if the Exchange paid the postage. The Exchange agreed. The poster features Dallas model Lynne Stewart, who posed for local photographer Mike McKee.

SOURCES: Exchange Post archives, NASA.gov.

Comments

Jason DeWeese

January 30, 2026

I was 14 yrs old watching the launch along with everyone standing outside of my school in Melbourne, FL, about 40 miles away from the Cape (Cape Canaveral) as I always have for every shuttle launch growing up there and my dad, like many, worked at the Cape. It was a particularly bitter cold but clear blue January day. I remember it like it was yesterday standing next to my science teacher. We could always feel the rumble and thunder even before a shuttle cleared the ground and since it’s Florida and flat, it only takes a few seconds before it rises above the tree line. After rising to the upper middle of the eastern sky, my teacher and I immediately knew that it all went terribly wrong when we saw the two booster rockets still under full power, separate from the main tank and shuttle going into an out of control roll and explode. We just saying “NO…NO…NO!!!”.
Some of the kids who were newer to the area and didn’t grow up watching the launches were asking if it’s supposed to? I sadly said, “No. No it’s not supposed to do that at all”. We all were ushered back into the classroom where they had TV’s already set up, watching the horrible coverage of what we just saw with our own eyes. If you weren’t crying, you were in shock just in a daze for the remainder of the day. I’ll never forget it.

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1. Robert Philpot
  
  January 30, 2026
  
  Wow, Jason. Thanks for sharing that memory.
  
  Vr,
  
  Robert Philpot
  The Exchange Post
  
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2. Anthony Tigner
  
  January 31, 2026
  
  I was in the Navy just got orders to my second ship when I saw the explosion. It was unreal.
  
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