“The Challenger showed how good and safe an idea THAT was.”
There are plenty of non-military astronauts (several before Shuttle) and it has nothing to do with Challenger and nothing at all to do with PR.
“Civilian techs”... bilgewater.
I'm sorry, I was referring to the original men who actually walked on the moon and to those who're tryin to walk in the Iraqi sand. Care to tell me which of THEM was a civilian? I don't think ANY of the original Apollo astronauts was a civilian.As far as the shuttle goes, Yes there were civilians before Challenger but NOT for a long time thereafter. How many went into space after Columbia came apart with foreign astronauts aboard? I dunno, actually.