【原】欧美版“历史上的今天”：Challenger 挑战者

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内容提要：美国 “挑战者” 号飞船失事。

本文选自上海外语教育出版社出版的《听读美国小故事》第1册。如需购买，可以长按以下二维码图片，在弹出的菜单中选择“识别图中的二维码”后遵照指示操作即可：

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Challenger 

On January 28, 1986, a space shuttle named Challenger was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Millions of people, many of them school children, watched this exciting event on television. Suddenly, 73 seconds after lifting off, everyone’s excitement turned to horror as the space shuttle exploded in space. Later, part of the shuttle was recovered from the ocean floor about 30 miles off the coast of Florida.

The crew of the Challenger was made up of seven astronauts — five men and two women.

The whole world was saddened by the death of the astronauts. There was one astronaut who had captured the hearts of the American school children. Her name was Christa McAuliffe. She was a teacher and the first private citizen to go into space. Christa was a dedicated teacher who once said, “I touch the future, I teach.”

The Challenger was a good space shuttle. It had made nine successful flights before that tragic day in January. It had carried the first woman in space, Sally Ride, and the first African-American in space, Guy Bluford. It carried the first Canadian, Marc Garneau, into space.The Challenger also carried the first woman to walk in space, Kathy Sullivan.

There were no space shuttle trips for almost three years after the Challenger disaster. Everyone wanted to find out why the Challenger blew up and how to prevent that type of tragedy from happening again. During those years when no shuttles were taking off, Americans learned to make space traveling safer. Finally, in September 1988, five astronauts traveled through space and returned safely. The U.S. space program is now back on track.

The U.S. continues to make trips into space.

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