Florida Senate - 2016                            (NP)    SR 1786
       
       
        
       By Senator Altman
       
       16-03822-16                                           20161786__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution honoring the courage and bravery of the
    3         space shuttle Challenger crew on the 30th anniversary
    4         of the Challenger disaster.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, the space shuttle Challenger, the second shuttle
    7  put into service by NASA, was successfully launched and landed
    8  nine times between April 4, 1983, and October 30, 1985, and
    9         WHEREAS, during Challenger’s tenth liftoff from the Kennedy
   10  Space Center on January 28, 1986, one of its O-ring seals, which
   11  had become brittle in the cold temperatures, failed, causing its
   12  right-hand solid rocket booster to separate from its external
   13  fuel tank, resulting in the shuttle’s disintegration only 73
   14  seconds into its mission at 11:39 a.m., and
   15         WHEREAS, the disaster killed the seven-person crew: Mission
   16  Commander Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith,
   17  Mission Specialist Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist Ellison
   18  S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist Ronald E. McNair, Payload
   19  Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis, and Teacher-in-Space Payload
   20  Specialist Sharon Christa McAuliffe, and
   21         WHEREAS, Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, New
   22  Hampshire, was scheduled to become the first teacher in space as
   23  part of the Teacher in Space Project to conduct experiments and
   24  teach lessons from the Challenger to encourage children to
   25  pursue careers in science and mathematics, and
   26         WHEREAS, many lessons have been learned from the tragic
   27  loss of the Challenger and its crew, and those lessons have
   28  increased the dedication of the United States and NASA to make
   29  space exploration safer for everyone for the benefit of mankind,
   30  and
   31         WHEREAS, January 28, 2016, was the 30th anniversary of the
   32  tragic accident of the space shuttle Challenger and the loss of
   33  its seven brave crew members, NOW, THEREFORE,
   34  
   35  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   36  
   37         That the space shuttle Challenger’s crew is honored for
   38  their courage and bravery on the 30th anniversary of the
   39  Challenger disaster.