Remains of the space shuttle 'Challenger' found at the bottom of the sea

Divers from a documentary team searching for the wreckage of a World War II plane off the coast of Florida have found a part of the space shuttle

, which exploded shortly after its launch in 1986. As confirmed by NASA in a statement, divers contacted the US space agency after detecting a large and clearly modern object covered mostly by sand on the bottom. of the ocean and that had the distinctive tiles of the transshipment.

"This discovery gives us an opportunity to pause, once again, to elevate the legacies of the seven pioneers we lost and to reflect on how this tragedy changed us," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

It is the first time in 25 years that a piece of the

The located segment, preserved at the bottom of the Atlantic, is one of the largest pieces found after this tragedy that marked space history, as confirmed by NASA.

In images filming their discovery, made in the spring of 2022, two divers surrounded by fish reveal the shuttle's iconic heat shield tiles beneath the sand.

These small black squares covered the entire bottom of the ship, to allow it to withstand the infernal heat during its return to the atmosphere.

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'Challenger': 30 years after the first televised space catastrophe

One of the two divers, Mike Barnette, told AFP he experienced a real "emotional roller coaster" when he realized what he was touching.

"When we found it, it was a lot of different emotions," recalls this marine biologist, whose hobby is exploring shipwrecks at the bottom of the water.

"I'm used to diving among wrecks that are tens or even hundreds of years old, but not a part of the space program!"

The piece of the located shuttle is partially buried.

The visible part measures about 4.5 meters and "is one of the largest ever found," Mike Ciannilli, a NASA employee for more than 25 years, mainly in the space shuttle program, told AFP.

Image of the explosion of the 'Challenger', in 1986. Bruce Weaver (AP)

Nelson has indicated that NASA was trying to determine whether to recover the remains and "what additional actions it can take regarding the artifact that will properly honor the legacy of the fallen

astronauts and the families who loved them."

exploded in a fireball 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center on January 28, 1986. All seven crew members were killed, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe

.

Further investigation showed that the unexpected cold temperatures affected the integrity of the O-ring seals in the solid rocket booster segment.

The divers were exploring the seafloor off Florida earlier this year as part of a

documentary called

, about the swath of the Atlantic Ocean subject to myths surrounding the supposed supernatural disappearance. of planes and ships.

They were searching for the remains of a PBM Martin Mariner rescue plane that disappeared without a trace on December 5, 1945, while searching for five US Navy torpedo bombers that had also disappeared that day.

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