“They’re not havin’ trouble, are they?”

Everyone remembers where they were when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. Below (from the Louisville Courier-Journal) is a stunning home movie of the disaster. It was filmed by optometrist Jack Moss:

The four-minute film, shot at Moss’ second home in Winter Haven, Fla., might have remained stuffed away in a basement box, lost among the many 8-millimeter tapes he filmed of his family over the years. But shortly before the 88-year-old Moss died in December, he donated the tape to the Space Exploration Archive, a non-profit, educational organization in Louisville.

It’s not slick or polished, which makes it all the more a chilling, poignant snapshot of a tragedy, Marc Wessels, the archive’s executive director, said Thursday on the 24th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. The explosion killed the shuttle’s seven crew members, including science teacher Christa McAuliffe who had been chosen by NASA to become the first civilian in space.

(Via Sarah Weinman)