40 Years Ago Today, the Space Shuttle ‘Challenger’ Exploded 73 Seconds After Liftoff
Excerpt:
.....NASA had been lucky to avoid catastrophe on previous missions, as the previous launch videos clearly demonstrated. At least half of the 24 successful shuttle missions had O-ring problems: the seals failed, and there were partial burn-throughs of the rings.
But NASA went ahead anyway, calling the O-Ring problem an “acceptable risk.” On Jan. 28, 1986, the extreme cold at launch (36°F) was so far outside the “experience base” of those previous 14 missions that the safety margin finally vanished.
That day was 15 degrees colder than any previous Space Shuttle launch. The freezing conditions caused the rubber O-rings in the rocket boosters to stiffen, preventing them from sealing properly and leading to the structural failure.
Within seconds of launch, the O-ring melted away, and a stream of white-hot burning fuel began to eat away at the skin of Challenger’s liquid fuel rocket. Just 73 seconds after launch, the liquid fuel of the booster ignited, blowing up the shuttle and its seven crew members.
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And currently:
NASA is Going Back to the Moon Next Month in a Ship That Many Experts Feel Is Unsafe
Excerpt:
.....It’s been a long time coming. NASA has been developing the Space Launch System (SLS), which includes two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and the Orion capsule, for 20 years. Development costs have exceeded $29 billion (excluding the Orion capsule), and the entire Artemis campaign cost $93 billion through FY2025.
There has been exactly one SLS launch in all that time. An unmanned Artemis 1 was launched in November 2022, traveling to the Moon and back. It was mostly successful.
I say mostly because there was a slight problem with the Orion’s heat shield. In its efforts to save a little money, NASA redesigned the heat shield “to increase manufacturing and installation efficiency.”
It isn’t supposed to look like this.
https://x.com/swaginawagon/status/2016227363441303639
✪ Evil Te𝕏an ✪
@vileTexan
After Benny
@bennyjohnson
went digging on Illan Omar, I went digging a little bit on “the squad”.
Rashida Tlaib is a broke ass mf’r btw.
However, Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) has some interesting things going on.
Her husband is pulling in $1M/yr from “government funded” sources.
So I dug through her congressional financial disclosures and used AI to break some things down.
Let’s go.
THE NUMBERS:
* 2018 net worth: -$12,500 (per OpenSecrets)
* 2024 net worth: ~$8,000,000
That’s an $8 MILLION increase in 6 years on a $174K congressional salary.
How’d that happen?
THE TIMELINE:
* Jan 3, 2019: Pressley sworn into Congress
* Jan 8, 2019: Her husband Conan Harris resigns from his $92,500/year Boston City Hall job
* Jan 15, 2019: He registers “Conan Harris & Associates” - a DEI consulting firm
* Wayback Machine confirms http://conanharrisassociates.com went live in 2019.
What a wild couple of weeks, eh?
THE CONSULTING GRIFT:
Per her financial disclosures, his firm’s income:
* 2021: ~$300,000
* 2024: $100,001 - $1,000,000
That’s a MILLION dollars a year from a consulting firm launched the week his wife entered Congress.
THE CLIENTS:
His client list reads like a government funding directory:
* City of Bridgeport, CT (municipal govt)
* City of Framingham (municipal govt)
* MassHousing (state housing finance agency)
* Meet Boston (tourism bureau, receives public funding)
* The Boston Foundation
* Justice Resource Institute (social services nonprofit)
* Obama Foundation
Pattern: DEI consulting for entities that either ARE government or depend heavily on government grants.
THE CONFLICT:
Pressley sits on:
* House Financial Services Committee (MassHousing = housing finance)
* House Oversight & Government Reform (government contracting)
Her husband’s firm gets paid by government entities and nonprofits dependent on government funding - in policy areas her committees oversee.
THE ETHICS WARNING:
* The Boston Globe reported in Feb 2019 that before leaving City Hall, Harris used his government email to pitch staying on as a $50K/year consultant.
* State ethics laws bar using official resources for personal gain.
* An ethics expert warned they’d need to “be mindful to avoid any potential ethical and political pitfalls.”
REAL ESTATE:
Her 2024 disclosure shows spouse-owned assets:
* Martha’s Vineyard rental: $1,000,001 - $5,000,000
* Boston rental #1: $500,001 - $1,000,000
* Boston rental #2: $500,001 - $1,000,000
* Boston rental #3: $250,001 - $500,000
* Fort Lauderdale rental (sold 2024): $250,001 - $500,000
Total real estate: $8M
Remember, in 2019 they had ONE rental property and were underwater on it.
THE BACKGROUND:
* Before his city job and consulting gig, Conan Harris spent 10 years in federal prison for drug trafficking.
* He went from dealing drugs → city job (while his wife was on City Council) → million-dollar consulting firm the week she entered Congress.
BOTTOM LINE:
* Net worth in 2018: negative
* Net worth in 2024: $8 million
The day his wife became a Congresswoman, Conan Harris quit his city job and launched a consulting firm that now pulls up to seven figures annually from government-funded clients.
She sits on committees overseeing housing and government contracting. He consults for housing agencies and government-funded nonprofits.
The swamp doing swamp things.
Sources:
* Pressley 2024 Financial Disclosure (http://disclosures-clerk.house.gov, ID #10067354)
* OpenSecrets 2018 net worth estimate
* Boston Globe, Feb 16, 2019
* Wayback Machine archives
https://x.com/vileTexan/status/2016138435350700480