A CHC 2D Canadian History Presentation 1980s U.S.A. A CHC 2D Canadian History Presentation

AMERICA in the United States, two stories dominated the middle of the decade the first was the Iran-Contra Affair seven Americans had been taken hostage by Hezbollah, an Iranian-sponsored force in Lebanon President Reagan traded for their release with weapons to Iran despite an arms embargo by Congress not to sell that country weaponry

AMERICA to get the weapons there, they were sold to the Nicaraguan rebel group the Contras, who then sold the weapons to Iran in exchange for what they needed to fight their own revolution the details were leaked to the Lebanese newspapers the American government held televised hearings that included the testimony of the President but it was determined it wasn’t officially illegal all those who participated were pardoned by Reagan’s successor, George H. Bush

CHALLENGER the second story was the loss of U.S.S. Challenger the United States began the shuttle program in 1974 with the test flights of U.S.S. Enterprise the shuttles were reusable — meaning the $30 billion ships would be repaired and relaunched to save money Enterprise was not space-worthy so Columbia went up first in 1981 and was soon put in rotation with Challenger

CHALLENGER Challenger had the honour of being the shuttle for the 25th mission mission 25 was supposed to change the way space travel would go, by including in its seven-person crew Christa McAuliffe, a civilian school teacher the government ignored warnings over the cold and launched the shuttle to keep pace with the Soviets 73 seconds into flight, the shuttle exploded

CHALLENGER it was later determined that the cold had caused a small crack in the “O-ring” that protected the oxygen in the second fuel tank from igniting scandal would break out when it was later learned the astronauts had actually survived the explosion and were killed when their cockpit hit the water at tremendous impact it would be two years before America launched its next shuttle

CHALLENGER U.S.S. Challenger has a special place in Canadian history as well because STS-13 included in its crew Marc Garneau Garneau has the honour of being the first Canadian astronaut in space — but not the first thing from Canada that honour goes to Canadarm

CANADARM developed by S.P.A.R. out of Montreal, the Canadarm premiered aboard the Enterprise and was first used on shuttle mission 3 Canadarm allowed the shuttle crews to manipulate satellites without leaving the ship one Canadarm was lost aboard Challenger Canadarm has survived the shuttle program: there is a newer version aboard I.S.S. Freedom, Canada’s contribution to the International Space Station