Ellison Onizuka was one of the seven NASA astronauts who died in the 1986 space shuttle explosion. His daughter's high school soccer team gave him a signed soccer ball to take on the mission.

A soccer ball that was taken aboard NASA's ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger finally made it into space last week, 31 years after the shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after launch.

Home / Challenger’s Soccer Ball Finally Reaches Space. Posted in Press Release Challenger’s Soccer Ball Finally Reaches Space by SpaceRef February 6, 2017 July 15, 2024.