Never Before Seen Photos of the Challenger Disaster

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.weather.com/news/science/never-seen-photos-challenger-disaster-20140117

By Nicole Bonaccorso Published: Jan 24, 2014, 10:36 AM EST weather.com

January 28 marks the 28th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle explosion. Last week, Michael Hindes of West Springfield, Mass., made a timely discovery: Twenty-six previously misplaced photos of the disaster. To his knowledge, the photos had never been published before this past Tuesday.

While searching through the belongings of his grandmother, who had recently passed away, Hindes was looking for photos to display during the memorial service. Lo and behold, an amazing find. “I just happened to get the box with the Challenger pictures at the bottom, which was kind of special for me because I am the biggest NASA fan in the family," Hindes wrote in the Reddit post where he first displayed the photos.



“As I [went] through them, I’m watching the shuttle go up and up and up,” he told KTAR. “Then I see that iconic cloud.” Hindes said his heart sank when he realized what the photos depicted.

Hindes’ asked his grandfather, who had worked as NASA electrician, about the photos. His grandfather explained that another electrician, one of his coworkers, had taken them and given him a set. Unfortunately, in the three decades that have past, the photographer’s name is, sadly, lost to history.

FULL story and slide show at link.