STS-114 Post-Flight Presentation

Thirty years after the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated in the clear, cold sky high above Cape Canaveral, the commander’s widow no longer feels anger at NASA and the management missteps and schedule pressure that kept the orbiters flying despite a fatal flaw in their solid-fuel boosters.

Making a brief pit shop in San Diego to clear customs today, the museum-bound space shuttle external fuel tank will reach Los Angeles for offloading from the transport barge on Wednesday, just days after a serendipitous rescue of the passengers from a sunken boat in the Pacific.

A cargo-delivery module packed with 9,400 pounds of food, equipment and science gear departed shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay on July 11, 2011 and parked at the International Space Station’s doorway for unloading.