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Welcome to Gap Fest Reads from March 2025. I'm David Flotz, one of the hosts of Slate's Political GabFest.

For anyone over the age of about 45, the Challenger disaster is a stop time moment. You know exactly where you were when you heard about it. I was in 10th grade

chemistry class. And you saw the world, maybe even the whole universe differently afterwards

than you did before the disaster. And everyone who is listening to this podcast knows the outcome

of the Challenger disaster. Everyone listening to this podcast knows the cause of the Challenger disaster. Everyone listening to this podcast knows the cause

of the Challenger disaster. I think you had probably never heard the term O-ring before

1986, but now it is, it's in the nation's vocabulary because of that. You know the outcome

and you know the cause, so why would you want to read a book about it?

And the answer is you absa fucking lootly want to read a book about it because the book is Challenger, a true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space by Adam Higginbotham.

And Adam, honestly, it is like I tore through this book. It's the most gripping, enthralling,

unput-downable and thought-provoking book I have read in a long, long time. I just loved it,

loved it, loved it, loved it. So congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.

Just to quickly give a summary, this Challenger is the story of the Challenger of Disaster.

It's also the story of the rise and building of the space program. It's an exploration of the culture of astronauts in the space program. It's a really interesting philosophical puzzle about complexity. It's also a murder mystery. It's also an elegy for the people who lost their lives in this. And it grapples

really profoundly with the question of what price we as a, as individuals, as a nation, as a

species should be willing to pay to attempt magnificent deeds. And honestly, like, I'm sure that

this conversation, which will be whatever, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, cannot possibly do justice to this book.

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