Space exploration must not fall victim to shuttle disasters

WHEN I think back to my early teenage years, only a few news stories remain implanted in my memory.

There was the horror of Enniskillen, the Anglo-Irish Agreement and Mrs Thatcher’s defeat of the miners’ strike. Further afield, one particular tragedy sticks in the mind.

It is 25 years ago this month since the space shuttle Challenger disaster. It was one of the first events of global interest to be broadcast live internationally through cable TV. As a result, it became a widely shared emotional experience, a kind of precursor to the kind of televised tragedy that is now common and which reached its apotheosis on 9/11.