[Stateside Twins' Eyeshot]Freedom in Destruction

1986 - The space shuttle Challenger explodes in a ball of fire shortly after takeoff on January 28, with all seven astronauts killed, while Shcharansky is freed after eight years in Soviet prisons and labor camps. Oil is selling at less than $15 per barrel, and hundreds of designer dresses, five shelves of unused Gucci handbags and 3,000 pairs of shoes are left behind by Imelda Marcos. Chernobyl's accident releases deadly atom radiation and later proves to be the worst nuclear accident ever, while the US celebrates the refurbished Miss Liberty's 100th birthday.

1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, killing all seven of its crew members: flight commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee; pilot Michael Smith; Ronald McNair; Ellison Onizuka; Judith Resnik; Gregory Jarvis; and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.