Thursday, January 28, 2016.  Thirty years ago today, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch, killing the seven astronauts aboard.  I talk about my own memory of that day, the impressions the relentless news coverage left on me, and discuss the lessons of the accident.  Whether those lessons were lasting, I fear is open to question.

For a very thoughtful commentary about the Challenger disaster and the effect it has had on NASA (along with the Apollo 1 disaster before and the Columbia disaster after it), I highly recommend the following from NBC News space analyst James Oberg: NASA has to fight the forgetting

The music for today's show is "Space Frontier," by Morwic, used with most kind permission.  You can find Morwic on his Twitch.tv channel almost every night, composing ambient music in real time with feedback from his audience.  Check it out!