Space Shuttle Challenger disaster recent, real-life Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster. Punky and her classmates watched the live coverage of the shuttle launch in Mike Fulton's class. After the accident occurred, Punky is traumatized, and finds her dreams to become an astronaut are crushed. She writes a letter to NASA, and is visited by special guest star Buzz Aldrin. Although the episode received high ratings, NBC would, in the following weeks, decide to cancel the show. On the evening of April 5, 1986, the "Rendez-vous Houston" concert commemorated and celebrated the crew of the "Challenger." It featured a live performance by musician Jean Michel Jarre,
Space Shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base, California, or use one of the multiple alternate landing sites around the world. A landing at any site other than Kennedy Space Center meant that after touchdown the Shuttle must be mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and returned to Cape Canaveral. Space Shuttle "Columbia" (STS-3) once landed at the White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico; this was viewed as a last resort as NASA scientists believed that the sand could potentially damage the Shuttle's exterior. There were many alternative landing sites that were never used. An example of technical risk analysis for a STS