A 2019 tweet by New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has gone viral on the anniversary of the Challenger tragedy on 28 January 1986.
On 8 March 2019, Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that it was via the Girl Scouts that she “first practiced how to change brake fluid, start a fire, practice self-defense, recreate the NASA Challenger mission, and [very] importantly: learn to teach myself new skills + navigate ambiguity. There’s a reason a [lot] of Congresswomen are former scouts!”
Friday marked the 36th anniversary of the failed NASA mission, when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds into its journey, exploding in the sky and killing all seven astronauts aboard.
Twitter users started asking on Friday why girl scouts would have been taught how to recreate the fatal mission.
“Recreating the NASA Challenger mission? That’s a pretty dark Girl Scout troop,” conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote.
“Did they also recreate the Donner family journey?” he added, referring to a group of people emigrating towards the American west in the winter of 1846-1847 who resorted to cannibalism to survive.
Emily Zanotti of Fox News digital simply asked: “The NASA ... Challenger ... mission?”
“I know how to change the oil and refill windshield washer fluid, but I’m not sure about a brake flush. That’s a little advanced for Girl Scouts,” she added. “I think she means the ‘NASA Challenge(r) Center’ where you can do field trips that are sort of like EPCOT’s Mission: Space. Mini space camp-type thing.”
“Why the hell would you ever have children recreate an exploding space shuttle that killed seven astronauts??” Charles Olson asked.
“Is this tweet parody? Recreated a mission that obliterated the entire crew? Changed brake fluid?” one Twitter user wrote. “When I was in the boy scouts I learned how to skin a grizzly bear and we recreated the Princess Diana crash.”
