Editing Dick Scobee (section)

==''Challenger''==
Scobee was assigned commander for the ill-fated [[STS-51-L]] mission, after having previously flown ''Challenger'' in [[STS-41-C]] as a pilot. The mission, designed to deploy a satellite to study the approaching [[Comet Halley|Halley's Comet]] and to inaugurate the [[Teacher in Space Project]], was delayed numerous times due to bad weather and technical glitches. When the mission finally did lift off the [[launch pad|pad]], a solid rocket booster [[O-ring]] seal failure [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|destroyed the shuttle]] 73 seconds into the flight, killing Scobee and the other six crew members; the disaster, viewed live on national television, prompted several days of national mourning, as well as a major shakeup at NASA. He died a [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]]. At T+68 into the mission, the CAPCOM [[Richard O. Covey|Richard Covey]] informed the crew that they were "go at throttle up", and Scobee confirmed the call—his last recorded words were his response, "Roger, go at throttle up." The shuttle broke up at an altitude of 48,000&nbsp;feet (14.6&nbsp;km).<ref name="kerwin">{{cite web|author=Kerwin, Joseph P. |title=''Challenger'' crew cause and time of death |year=1986 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/kerwin.html |access-date=July 4, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103015825/https://history.nasa.gov/kerwin.html |archive-date=January 3, 2013 }}</ref>

Some experts, including one of NASA's lead investigators, [[Robert Overmyer]], who was closest to Scobee, believed most if not all of the crew were alive and possibly conscious during the entire descent until impact with the ocean. After the investigation, Overmyer stated, "I not only flew with Dick Scobee, we owned a plane together, and I know Scob did everything he could to save his crew. Scob fought for any and every edge to survive. He flew that ship without wings all the way down."<ref name=Breakup>{{cite web | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3078062 | title=Chapter 5: An eternity of descent| work=[[NBC News]] | last=Barbree | first=Jay | date=January 1997 | access-date=July 29, 2009}}</ref>