A senate RESOLUTION

 

to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the tragic explosion of the Challenger space Shuttle, and to recognize October 21, 2026, as "ronald McNair Day" in South Carolina.

 

Whereas, forty years ago, a hopeful nation watched the Challenger shuttle take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and then cried in disbelief as the spaceship exploded seventy-three seconds into its flight. School children across the country and their teachers, businessmen and women, shoppers, and people at home witnessed via live television the horrific conclusion of the hopes and dreams of the seven souls aboard; and

 

Whereas, the crew was scheduled to deploy a commercial communications satellite and study Halley's Comet while they were in orbit, in addition to taking schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe into space under the Teacher in Space Project, which resulted in higher-than-usual media coverage of the mission; and

 

Whereas, on January 28, 1986, the spacecraft disintegrated forty-six thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean. It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight. The mission, designated STS-51-L, was the tenth flight for the orbiter and the twenty-fifth flight of the Space Shuttle fleet; and

 

Whereas, the disaster resulted in a thirty-two-month hiatus in the Space Shuttle program, and the Rogers Commission was created to investigate the accident. The commission criticized NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes that had contributed to the accident. Test data since 1977 had demonstrated a potentially catastrophic flaw in the SRBs' O-rings, but neither the SRB manufacturer nor NASA had addressed this known defect. NASA managers also disregarded engineers' warnings about the dangers of launching in low temperatures and did not report these concerns to superiors; and

 

Whereas, as a result of this disaster, NASA established the Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance, and arranged for deployment of commercial satellites from expendable launch vehicles, rather than from a crewed orbiter. To replace the Challenger, the construction of a new Space Shuttle orbiter, Endeavour, was approved in 1987, which first flew in 1992. Subsequent missions were launched with redesigned SRBs and their crews wore pressurized suits during ascent and reentry; and

 

Whereas, one of the astronauts who perished in the flight was South Carolina native, Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair. Born in Lake City on October 21, 1950, he was the son of Pearl McNair, a high school teacher, and Carl C. McNair, an auto mechanic; and

 

Whereas, Dr. McNair attended Lake City Elementary School and graduated as valedictorian from Carver High School. In 1967, he began college at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and pledged the Omega Psi Phi fraternity through the Mu Psi Chapter in 1969. In 1971, he earned a bachelor's degree in physics and graduated magna cum laude. He earned a doctorate in physics in 1976 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the same year, he won the AAU Karate gold medal and subsequently earned a fifth-degree black belt in karate; and

 

Whereas, Dr. McNair also received four honorary doctorates, as well as a score of fellowships and commendations. He became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, California. In 1978, he was selected as one of thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten thousand for the NASA astronaut program. Dr. McNair flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-B aboard Challenger from February 3-11, 1984, and was the second African American to fly in space. On January 28, 1986, he was one of three mission specialists in a crew of seven. McNair crater on the Moon is named in his memory; and

 

Whereas, on March 12, 2018, the South Carolina Legislature passed 2018 Act No. 141 (H. 4858) into law to designate every October 21 as "Ronald McNair Day" in the Palmetto State.  Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the Senate:

 

That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the tragic explosion of the Challenger spacecraft, and recognize October 21, 2026, as "Ronald McNair Day" in South Carolina.

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