Dick Scobee, Commander of the Ill-Fated Challenger, Hopes to Be Selected as a Space Shuttle Astronaut

Background

It seems likely that some, or all, of the seven-member crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger alive, and very possibly conscious, during its torturous nine-mile 2 minute and 45 second descent after the shuttle exploded - and the crew cabin, miraculously intact, hurtled toward the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The impact, at about 200 miles an hour, killed all aboard instantly. Yet a NASA investigator, Robert Overmyer, who knew Scobee well declared, "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."Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page, quarto, no place, no date but prior to January 1978. To Alan.