The Dark Oak9 Heinä 2025

Episode 114: The Challenger Tragedy

In an effort to reinvigorate interest in the Space program, NASA launched the "Teacher in Space" program, in 1984. The beautiful, brilliant and charismatic high school social studies teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was selected out of 11,000 applicants and the country fell in love with the teacher and the space program once again. Tragically, a well-documented problem with the O-rings on the shuttle's solid rocket booster was compromised during the low temperature launch and one of NASA's biggest tragedies occurred, resulting in the deaths of all seven astronauts on board. In today's episode we discuss little known facts about the disaster and ask the question, what is the cost of advancement?

Sources:

How legendary physicist Richard Feynman helped crack the case on the Challenger disaster. (2021, June 9). Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/how-legendary-physicist-richard-feynman-helped-crack-the-case-on-the-challenger-disaster/

Pruitt, S. (2025, May 28). 5 things you may not know about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster | HISTORY. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/articles/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-challenger-shuttle-disaster

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2009, January 14). Challenger disaster | Summary, Date, Cause, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Challenger-disaster

The Challenger: The Final Flight. (2018). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12930534/fullcredits/

Join The Dark Oak Discussion:

Patreon

The Dark Oak Podcast Website

This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(100)

Episode 161: The Abduction of Kevin Verville Jr.

On July 1, 1980, a woman calling herself "Sheila" approached Kevin's parents, Angelina and Kevin Verville Sr. at their off-base military apartment complex. Posing as a social worker from a military fa...

5 Elo 37min

Episode 160: Black Eyed Children

In the dead of night, pale figures that look like children—yet somehow are not—appear at car windows and doorways, their eyes pure voids of black that swallow the light. They speak in flat, too-adult ...

30 Heinä 1h 1min

Episode 159: The Circleville Letters

In the mid-to-late 1970s, the quiet Ohio town of Circleville was gripped by a wave of anonymous letters that transformed a close-knit community into one of fear and suspicion. Most postmarked from Col...

23 Heinä 56min

Episode 158: The Disappearance of Lynette Hooker - Overboard in Paradise

Lynette Hooker, a 55-year-old Michigan woman and avid sailor, disappeared on the night of April 4, 2026, while in the Bahamas with her husband of about 25 years, Brian Hooker. According to Brian’s acc...

15 Heinä 51min

Episode 157: The Great Kentucky Meat Shower

On March 3, 1876, chunks of raw animal meat fell from a clear sky over a farm near Olympia Springs in Bath County, Kentucky, for several minutes while Mrs. Crouch was making soap outside. The pieces, ...

8 Heinä 48min

Episode 156: Laralee Spear - So Close to Home

On April 25, 1994, 15-year-old Laralee Spear was abducted and brutally murdered just one month shy of her 16th birthday. She was reported missing by her mother when she failed to arrive home after sch...

1 Heinä 41min

Episode 155: Barbara Nantais - One Night on the Sand

In August 1978, 15-year-old Barbara Nantais and her 17-year-old boyfriend Jim Alt were attacked while sleeping in zipped-together sleeping bags on Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, California, af...

25 Kesä 57min

Episode 154: Lauren Spierer - Bloomington’s Coldest Mystery

Lauren Spierer, a 20-year-old sophomore studying textiles merchandising at Indiana University, disappeared in the early morning hours of June 3, 2011, in Bloomington, Indiana. The night before, she ha...

10 Kesä 1h 8min