Recovered Space Shuttle Challenger Soccer Ball Finally Goes To Space
For any of us of a certain age, we all remember where we were when the space shuttle Challenger broke apart right after liftoff. Unexpectedly, however, a piece of that ill-fated mission has — 30 years later — made it to Earth’s orbit.
A soccer ball had been on the space shuttle because of Ellison Onizuka. He had brought it with him because his daughter was a soccer player at Clear Lake High School (CLHS) in Houston, Texas. After the disaster, the soccer ball was found floating in the ocean with other pieces of the wreckage.