Challenges
“They slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.” Those words from the poem, High Flight by John Magee, were said by President Reagan on the afternoon of Tuesday 28 January 1986. They ended his address to the nation after the Challenger Shuttle exploded barely 2 minutes after its launch earlier that day. The seven astronauts on board did not disappear into the sky. As described in Adam Higginbotham’s magisterial, detailed and gripping account of the tragedy and…