The Netflix Documentary seriesChallenger: The Last FlightTells the tragic story of The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
On January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds into its flight, the shuttle I exploded and killed All seven crew members on board as the world watched in horror.
The crew consists of Five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists: Commander Francis R. Scobey, and Pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka and Judith Resnick, and payload specialists Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, who was also a teacher.
In the four-part series, the audience learns who these brave people are, what glitch caused the fatal accident, and how the Challenger story functions as a cautionary tale of space travel and exploration.
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“Telling the stories of the astronauts and their families has been the creative force behind the series,” executive producer Glenn Zipper told Fox News.
“One of the few things in our recent history that brought us together is our imagination of space exploration,” he said. “And we thought that telling this story now might remind us that, that we have things in common … and that there is privatization of space where we have Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Space X go to the next frontier and the danger is still there. So the series is a cautionary tale. To never make the same mistakes again. “
Dick Scooby’s widow, John Scooby Rodgers, also appeared in the series and hopes the audience will see that “the Challenger astronauts were real people.”
“They were husbands and wives, fathers and children,” she told Fox News. They were an amazing crew of people representing all religions and cultures.
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While reliving those memories is painful for Kobe Rodgers, she also feels “it is a great pleasure to see my husband at the height of his career as the captain of shuttle launch and flight.”
Since her husband’s death, she has been able to forgive the “people responsible for the accident” in order to move forward with her life.
Challenger 7 Crew (LR): Ellison S. Onizuka; Barbara Morgan, Dick Scooby; Christa McAuliffe, Judith Resnick, Mike Smith, and Ronald McNair.
(Public Domain / NASA)
“You cannot move forward in your life if you do not forgive. You are stuck in a place of anger or sadness … so I started to turn this sadness into a creative energy in order to work with families to create the Challenger Center, which continues [their] “We wanted children to enjoy what our loved ones risk their lives for,” she said.
“Challenger: The Final Flight” is now available on Netflix.
Ashley Dvorkin of Fox News contributed to this report.
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