This reading group guide for Challenger includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Adam Higginbotham. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book. Introduction When the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, people around the world held their breath, mourning the loss of the heroic passengers and wondering what this could mean for the future of space travel. In Challenger , Adam Higginbotham unveils not only the finer details of what happened on January 28, but the years of ambition and effort and political struggles that defined NASA and American space travel in the twentieth century. This work of nonfiction reads like a thriller, the narrative both urgent and tender. From the lead-up to the Apollo I disaster to the rescue mission to salvage the remains of Challenger from the Atlantic Ocean, Higginbotham delivers a quintessentially human story of heroism, tragedy, and resilience. Topics & Questions for Discussion Why do you think the author chose to focus first on the Apollo I disaster before excavating the lead-up to and aftermath of the Challenger explosion, for which this book is named? Each member of the Challenger crew is depicted as an individual with a history, likes, dislikes, relationships, etc.

Did you feel a sense of emotional intimacy with any of the crewmembers while reading and, if so, how does your new familiarity with the crewmembers lives and relationships affect your interpretation of the Challenger explosion? Reading about a past occurrence, you already know what is going to happen. However, Higginbotham writes in such a way that keeps the readers on their toes, hopeful that just maybe the January 28, 1986 flight of Challenger would be successful. What about Higginbotham''s writing develops this sense of suspense and hope? The Teacher in Space program is one of many initiatives the U.S. government took in the twentieth century to diversify the space program, though many astronauts were appalled to know that civilians would be sent into space without the same level of training they''d receive themselves. Are there any more recent programs or initiatives that you believe prize diversity and inclusion and have good intentions but perhaps neglect to acknowledge great risk? While you read Challenger , did you feel compelled to consume any other media about the passengers and the disaster (articles, YouTube videos, etc.)? Many engineers at Morton Thiokol, including Bob Ebeling and Robert Boisjoly, tried to prevent Challenger from launching in freezing weather on January 28, 1986. What was your response, as a group, when you discovered that many experts had tried, but failed, to stop the launch? In the Epilogue, Higginbotham shares what life looked like after Challenger for the family members of the Challenger passengers, as well as the lives of various people involved in the production and launch of Challenger .

Why do you think the author chose to share these details? Did this effect any final feelings you had about Challenger , NASA, even bureaucracy, as you finished the book? If a friend saw you reading this and asked what it''s about, would you say it''s about the space shuttle Challenger , about the multiple mishaps faced in the effort to put Americans in space during the twentieth century, about the politics of the Space Race, or something else altogether? Do you think the fate of Challenger would have been different if the ship''s January 1984 launch had been postponed? Were you ever surprised by how intimately and thoughtfully such a technical story (or a story with many technical details) was relayed? Were there any specific moments that solicited an unexpected emotional response from you? Enhance your Book Club Talk to each other about what you remember about the day Challenger exploded or, if you weren''t born yet, ask loved ones what they remember. Discuss the role memory plays when looking back at tragic events. Watch this [linked] clip of Richard Feynman criticizing NASA during the Challenger accident hearing, and consider this particular line: "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Together, make a list of the advantages and disadvantages our society is afforded by having so much recent history available online, summoned instantly with the simple touch of a finger to a screen. Make a list of the lessons you have learned, and the wisdom you have gained as a group in reading Challenger , paying special attention to the value of a true story that contains tragedy and resilience. Then, make a list of other works of nonfiction you might read that are a testament to humanity''s strength in challenging times. An Interview with the Author For many people, the Challenger disaster--like President Kennedy''s assassination, which preceded it, and 9/11, which came after it--remains a moment where one can describe exactly where one was when it happened. Where were you, and what do you remember of that day? I was seventeen in January 1986, and had been fascinated by the space program for as long as I could remember--and even before that; my parents woke me to witness the first moon landing when I was 13 months old.

I was in high school in England when the accident happened and, because of the time difference, it was already late in the day when the news broke. I had gone out for the evening with my friends and didn''t find out what had happened until I returned home that night. But I remember clearly how impossible to comprehend it seemed. The tragedy of the Challenger was not NASA''s first calamity, nor was it its last. What came beforehand and what came after, and what''s distinct about the Challenger ? There had been several deaths among the astronaut corps before 1986, both in flying accidents and, most devastatingly, as a result of the fire on the launchpad during training for the first manned mission of the moon program. But NASA and its contractors seemed to learn important safety lessons from the Apollo 1 tragedy. Subsequent close calls, including the miraculous rescue of the crew of Apollo 13, encouraged a belief that the agency could routinely achieve the impossible, and--armed with audacity and ingenuity--its engineers could always beat the odds. That illusion was shattered by the loss of Challenger , and the culture of NASA was changed forever--or so it seemed.

This book is full of heroics (and the opposite). Who are some of the more memorable heroes of this book? Each of the men and women who volunteered to fly aboard the space shuttle displayed extraordinary courage--and perhaps none more than John Young and Bob Crippen, who sat at the controls for the first shuttle launch in 1981, when it had only been tested in theory, and senior NASA managers weren''t even certain it would fly--"the boldest test flight in history." But two of the rocket engineers who tried to stop the fatal launch of Challenger the night before its final flight-- Allan McDonald and Roger Boisjoly--were heroes of a different kind. After the accident happened, they fought an attempted cover-up and brought the truth to light at what would turn out to be great personal cost. The Challenger took off from Cape Canaveral, but there are many theaters in this book spread across the country and even around the world. What are some of the important places in this book? The events in the story span the United States from coast to coast--from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the Morton Thiokol rocket factory in Utah to Mission Control in Houston and the launchpads at the Cape, and from Huntsville, Alabama to Concord, Massachusetts. Just as the effort to put a man on the moon had been, the Space Shuttle program was a national undertaking. But the Challenger accident--relayed live by NASA TV into thousands of school classrooms as it happened--united the country in real time like few events before or since.

Of all the technological feats and marvels that made the space program feasible, what are some of the innovations that most amaze you? One of the amazing achievements overshadowed by the disaster is that the space shuttle itself was an astonishing feat of engineering--conceived as the most complicated machine ever built. Bob Sieck, whose job it was to deliver Challenger to the pad at Cape Canaveral, ready for launch, told me that the spacecraft was an order of magnitude more complex than the rockets that took men to the moon. In some ways the technology NASA is now using to fly into space is a step backwards--and many engineers, and astronauts who flew the shuttle, believe it was retired long before its time. When most people remember the Challenger disaster, they tend to think of Christa McAuliffe--the first teacher selected to go into space. But the rest of the crew had fascinating back stories and paths to the ship that day. Who were some of those people? The crew included Ron McNair, a jazz-playing karate expert with a doctorate in physics.