and history of the i will caucasus. iowawill caucasus -- caucuses. >> we will never forget them nor the last time we saw them this morning. as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god. >> the year was 1986. 30 years ago today the space shuttle challenger exploded 72 seconds after launching, killing the crew of seven, including a school teach, christina mcawe

live, who was going to be america's first teacher in space. we'll begin there this morning with history and your thoughts and memories of the explosion of the space shuttle challenger. if you live in the eastern central part of the country, 202-748-8,000. ountain pacific, 202-748-8001. send us a tweet with your . mories at c spanwj we'll get those thoughts here in just a minute. i want to begin with the "miami herald's" original reporting that day, that tuesday on january 28, 1986. and they write this that for a moment america stood still. and a nation's anguish began to turn. congressmen talked of re-evaluating the space program. newspapers published extra editions. wall street expressed doubts. it goes on to say this that for more than a half-hour after the

explosion, the trail of white smoke remained in the clear florida skies as it plummeted to the sea 18 miles southeast of the launch pad. the blame flaming debris was clearly visible from across florida from tampa to miami. unlike the shuttle columbia during its first flights, challenger had no ejection seats or any other way for the crew to get out of the speights craft. the challenger crew included the first private citizen to fly on a shuttle, christina mcawe live -- mcauliffe, a teacher from new hampshire, she was to have thought american children four televised lessons from space. where are your memories about this day 30 years ago? where were you? what do you remember about it? what has happened since to this nation's space program and your thoughts on all of that this morning as we showed you at the top president reagan addressed the country that day on that tuesday, january 28. he talked to the nation just

hours after that explosion off the coast of florida. the papers this morning, there's one story in the "washington times" this morning about the teacher, christa mcauliffe, she was a high school teacher, taught social studies. the headline is the challenger disaster, the students are now teaching. one of them, it says that the six astronauts perished when it broke on live tv. a number of them have gone into teaching. some wonder if the tragedy affected them enough that they wanted to make a difference as she did. one of them didn't like social studies but she enjoyed mcauliffe's law class, she would take them to courtrooms and conduct mock trials and how personal she was and shared her enthusiasm and experience when she was in the running to be the first teacher in space. a ty of about 42,000 built

planetarium for mcauliffe then named it to the mcauliffe-shepard center, the first american in space. a few years ago it named an elementary school for her as well. the city has been low key on marquee challenger anniversaries. and her young children grew up. they both are educators with children of their own. caroline declined to be interviewed and scott did not respond to an email. passage of 30 years since the accident is not of great personal significance to their family, father, and widower, steven, said in a statement. for us challenger will always be an event that occurred just recently. our thoughts and member memories of christa will always be fresh and comforting. to keith in arkansas. you are up first for this discussion. what do you remember that -- about that day?

caller: it was kind of tense. i was in the army and we were transitioning on the m-1-a-1 abrams off the m-of 0-a-3 battle tank. we had been in the day room. we just been on night maneuvers. we were all pretty well bushed. and cnn comes on at a different time over there, you know. so actually we watched a six-hour delay. and we all looked at each other when this blew up. we couldn't believe it. we knew there was a loss of life. and we were all pretty shook up. this is 30 years ago. i still got the feelings and the memories of it. host: why is that do you think, keith? caller: it was such a race. i think that the -- america was in such a deadlock to do something in space and do something outstanding at that time and i think the entire country was just really spellbound that we had that kind

of technology that we could do that, you know. and then to see it end in such a disaster, it was quite an emotional break. it pretty well rippled through the entire company that way. host: keith, you know the space shuttle program ended in 2011 after 135 missions. what marked the challenger leave on nasa? caller: i'm not really sure. i know the safety standards went up. and i know that the technology to ensure that no man would be lost again really changed. i mean that was a total shock. those what i remember. i just remember the shock. host: this is from cnn's timeline that they put together. on january 5, 1972 president richard nixon announces the intent to develop the first

space shuttle for travel into space. and cnn in this fast facts that they have put together, this timeline of what happened, they note this about the space shuttle. the space shuttle is the world's first reusable spacecraft, launching like a rocket, orbiting like a spacecraft and landing like a plane. they could carry satellites, space probes, it says in the cnn fast facts. crews ranged in size from five to seven. over 600 crew members flew on missions. the lockest any shuttle stayed in orbit was 17.5 days in november, 1996. the space shuttle was 184 feet long. the orbiter was 122 feet long. the liftoff was about 4.5 million pounds. sam in el paso, texas. good morning to you. you're next. caller: hi.

greta, are you being held against your will because of the blizzard? i have seen you on c-span every day. i was in high school when this happened so they wheeled in the tv. so we could all watch it. and then it exploded and i just thought, is that normal? what is going on? it was tragic. that's all i have to say. host: do you remember what your teacher or principal said to you at the time? caller: i don't. no, i don't remember. were just trying to -- they thought it would be this miraculous thing, and it turned out to be a tragic thing. that's all i remember. host: randy in clearwater, florida, what do you remember? caller: hello. yeah, i live in florida and i during that litary

time. and i got my permanent disabled at that time. they never should have launched it. .e had a freeze all these scientists and they were pathetic. they could have waited until the next day when it was warmer. -- so sad that those people mcauliffe. host: yes, the teacher. caller: yeah. when i was nt

stationed over there, i saw one launch. to feel thet moving ground shake and feel it in your body. very extraordinary. host: randy, he notes there had been other launches. on april 12, 1981, space shuttle columbia launched. on july 5, 1982, the orbiter challenger was delivered to the kennedy space center. on november 9, the discovery was delivered to the kennedy space center. on april 13, the atlantis was delivered. and then of course on january 28, today, 30 years ago, 1986, the challenger explodes minutes after launch. due to faulty o-rings in the shuttle's rocket booster. flights do not resume for another two years after that. on neb 1, 2003, the space shuttle columbia explodes over

texas after a large piece of foam rips off during the launch and gouges a hole in the left wing of the shuttle. it burned the wing during re-entry and the orbiter is discovered. that's just a little bit of time line of what nasa did before and did after space shuttle challenger exploded. let me go back to ronald reagan on this day 30 years ago and what he said to the country. here's a little bit more from the president. >> families of the seven, we cannot bear as you do the full impact of this tragedy. but we feel the loss and we are thinking about you so very much. your loved ones were daring and brave. and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says give me a challenge and i'll meet it with joy. they had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. they wished to serve and they did. they served all of us. they have grown use to wonders in this century.

it's hard to dazzle us. but for 25 years the united states space program has been doing just that. we have grown used to the idea of space and perhaps we forget that we have only just begun. we are still pioneers. they, the members of the challengerer -- challenger crew, were pioneers. host: ronald reagan addressing the country 30 years ago on this day when space challenger -- shays sput shuttle challenger exploded. we are getting your memories and thoughts on it. ron in eagle river, wisconsin. you're next. good morning. caller: good morning. i'd like to dedicate the challenger crew and put them on the face of one of our dollar denominations. i think it's high time that we recognize them as really true heroes. now a days with everything that goes on in washington and then trying to portray themselves as

these phony heroes when they can't stand up to the true people like these were. i think we should honor them somewhere, somehow with some kind of a memorial. host: ron, do you remember where you were that day? caller: good god. i'm rather elderly, for me to remember back 30 years it's a long time for me to pick that up. probably i was -- i don't know what i was doing at the time. i remember -- have a good dafmente host: you, too. mountain home, arkansas. nasa employee, tim. go ahead. caller: yeah. good morning. i was at work the morning of the disaster. we were working on the hubble telescope project. as soon as we heard the news, we ll basically had to excuse

ourselves as we were just too emotional. we knew that the hubble telescope was going to go up and was going to change -- make history. it was scheduled to be retrieved and retired at the smithsonian institute. point in t was a very my life that -- just thinking about it right now it brings tears to my eye. i spent most of my life working on the hubble telescope. i was looking forward to the day that i could bring my grandkids to see it at the smithsonian institute. that's not going to happen now. they are going to let it blow up in orbit when it finally comes to its last -- host: tim, what do you think

about -- what impacted challenger, the explosioning have, on nasa, on the agency? what was it like going forward after that? caller: well, it didn't take long till the top brass pretty much decided that we couldn't -- the telescope was not worth risking human lives to retrieve it and put it into the smithsonian. and that really -- kind of like start getting kicked -- getting your wind kicked out of you because i was very proud of that project. like i said i was looking forward to bringing my grandkids what i worked on. host: as we said -- tim, what did you make -- of nasa retiring the space shuttle program back in 2011? caller: it was a very emotional event for me because i also worked on the launch pad in florida.

constructing it. just talking about it right now, i'm having a hard time. host: we appreciate you calling in. that's tim, a nasa employee in mountain home, arkansas. many of you probably remember this sight as well back in 2012. the endeavor space shuttle atop a boeing 747 leaves cape canaveral florida on a farewell tour across the southern united states, two days later it lands at los angeles international airport. flew here in washington as well. the endeavor is transported approximately on october 12, 2012. it is transported approximately 12 miles at a top speed of two miles per hour from the los angeles international airport through the streets of engelwood in los angeles to the california science center. traffic, signs, utility post poles and other structures in the path delay the trip by more than 12 hours. the exhibit opens at the kennedy space visitor center in cape

canaveral florida in 2013. sherry in washington, d.c. hi, good morning. to you. caller: hi, greta. how are you? host: what's your memberry here? caller: oh, my gosh. i have gotten chills just listening to the previous callers and recalling what was going on. i was a senior inle could ledge at southern inillinois university. i was on my way to organic chem have i and hi to pass-through the student center. i remember as i went into the student center everything was silent. this was during the day where there's usually a lot of hustle and bustle. as i walked past one of the television rooms, people were packed shoulder to shoulder looking up at the television monitor. and i said what's going on? they said the challenger exploded? are you kidding? they showed it just sitting here thinking about it makes me emotional. and i'm just -- i've got chills all over. host: why do you think that is, sherry? caller: it was so emotional knowing that teacher was onboard. i'm in scnc