Firefighters Worked To Save NASA Memorabilia In The Home

The home of the founding director of The Challenger Center was significantly damaged in a fire Wednesday, losing at least some of the NASA memorabilia that was stored in the home.

The Wichita Eagle reports that, according to television station KTRK, the fire broke out at the home of Challenger widow Cheryl McNair at about 5:00 a.m. local time Wednesday. She was awakened by smoke alarms in her house, and was able to get “several items” out of the structure before it was too dangerous to go back in, according to television station KHOU.

When firefighters arrived, they were able to retrieve several more items along with McNair’s cat before the blaze became too intense and they had to go into defensive mode.

McNair is a founding director of the Challenger Center. She had been married to veteran astronaut and mission specialist Ronald McNair, who was among the astronauts fatally injured when the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight onJanuary 28, 1986.

McNair’s home was considered a “significant loss”, according to officials. It was not reported what specific NASA items were lost in the fire.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report