In 1986, two catastrophic events on opposite sides of the Cold War divide shocked the world. On January 28, the US space shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after takeoff, killing all seven astronauts on board and traumatizing millions of viewers who watched the tragedy unfold live on television. Just three months later, on April 26, a meltdown at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant sent a radioactive cloud across the USSR and Europe, resulting in immediate deaths and a long-term death toll estimated to range from hundreds to tens of thousands. This disaster is widely believed to have contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In his 2019 book “Midnight in Chernobyl,” British writer Adam Higginbotham meticulously reconstructed the Chornobyl disaster, detailing the events leading up to the meltdown and its aftermath with the skill of a thriller writer. The book is a gripping read, with scenes of ill-equipped workers venturing into the reactor to contain the fallout permanently etched into readers’ memories.
Now, Higginbotham turns his attention to the Challenger disaster. Despite the horrific spectacle of the shuttle’s explosion and the media frenzy that followed—heightened by the presence of charismatic schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe on board—this event might seem more challenging to transform into a tense, nonfiction page-turner. Unlike Chornobyl, which had long-lasting effects and contributed to the downfall of an empire, the Challenger disaster was over in seconds. The primary damage was to the reputations of those who pushed for the launch despite knowing about fatal flaws in the technology.
The technical complexity of the shuttle program adds another layer of difficulty. While “Midnight in Chernobyl” delved into the intricacies of nuclear reactors, the shuttle program involves even more moving parts. Higginbotham excels at explaining the world’s first reusable manned spacecraft, describing its rickety rocket boosters and heat-insulating tiles that prevented it from burning up on re-entry. He also sheds light on the labyrinthine workings of NASA, which by the 1980s was underfunded, bureaucratic, and overly ambitious in its mission to make space flight as routine as air travel.
Reading “Challenger” feels like blasting off from Cape Canaveral. The initial chapters are dense with technical and institutional details, introducing a wide cast of characters from astronauts to lowly engineers. But after a couple of hundred pages, the narrative weight drops away, and we cruise towards the events of January 28, 1986, with ominous ease.
Knowing the outcome doesn’t lessen the tension. Higginbotham brings the characters to life, often within a single paragraph. One NASA official is described as “secretive, inscrutable, and Machiavellian… the Thomas Cromwell of the Johnson Space Center.” The Challenger crew members become vivid, with their quirks and passions emerging. Ron McNair, one of NASA’s first Black astronauts and a talented jazz musician, planned to broadcast himself playing saxophone from space. Middle-school teacher McAuliffe, with her infectious enthusiasm, fearlessly performed a barrel roll in a supersonic jet during training.
As the astronauts become more real, we watch helplessly as repeated attempts to address the shuttle’s key weakness—the rubber seals preventing the release of hot gas within the rocket boosters—fail. It wasn’t just a technical issue; external pressures on the shuttle program led higher-ups at NASA and its contractors to ignore warnings to stay on schedule. Higginbotham’s account of an emergency meeting on January 27 about the disabling effect of low temperatures on the seals is particularly shocking.
Blame also lies with politicians who pressured the program while cutting its budgets and the media, which hounded the astronauts before the launch and their grieving families afterward. But this is primarily a story of corporate and institutional malfeasance. The echoes of the 1986 disaster—corner-cutting and suppression of safety concerns—can be felt in the current crisis facing plane manufacturer Boeing.
Higginbotham’s latest work may lack the radioactive intensity and vast scope of “Midnight in Chernobyl,” but once it overcomes the initial hurdles, it remains a compelling read. “Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space” by Adam Higginbotham is a gripping chronicle of a disaster foretold, shedding light on the tragic events and the systemic failures that led to one of the most shocking moments in space exploration history.
