CHALLENGER

For NASA, a somber 'Day of Remembrance' casts spotlight on astronaut safety to prevent tragedies

This year's edition includes a live panel on safety practices.

Nearly twice as many employers are offering year-end bonuses this year. Here's how to stretch a one-time cash infusion.

Lenses and frames built for superior vision

The Department of Justice announced today that it signed a settlement agreement with Challenger Sports Corporation (Challenger), a soccer instruction company based in Lenexa, Kansas, which runs soccer programs nationwide. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), employers cannot generally discriminate based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin at any stage of the hiring process. The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation. Learn more about prohibitions against citizenship status discrimination. The public also can contact IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688; call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); email IER@usdoj.gov; sign up for a free webinar; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.

President Joe Biden’s requirement for federal workers to reveal their COVID-19 vaccination status is going to force some uncomfortable questions not only at government agencies but at private companies.

President Joe Biden’s requirement for federal workers to reveal their COVID-19 vaccination status is likely to force uncomfortable questions not only at government agencies but at private companies as well. Getting the policy right will take time, and vary across government agencies. The same holds for private companies, for which the White House is trying to provide a guide.

For her 17th birthday, her label gifted her the matte-black Challenger she'd been dreaming of since she was 13 years old. She nicknamed the ride "Dragon." Billie Eilish’s Dodge@billieeilish/Instagram

The poet and astronaut will make history again as two of 20 distinguished women to be honored by the U.S. Mint.

Astronaut Sally Ride will be depicted on a U.S. coin looking out a spacecraft window at Earth, if the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury agrees with the recommendations made by two advisory panels.

These are the top space stories this week from Space.com.

Six Challenger tennis tournaments scheduled for Canada this year have been canceled because of the pandemic.

The last time that Richard Truly saw it, it was on board the space shuttle Challenger 38 years ago. The small envelope, bearing a special postmark identifying it as "Space Mail Orbited Via STS-8," was then newly-signed by Truly and his STS-8 crewmates.

Barely 100 people — all masked and seated or standing far apart — gathered in front of Kennedy Space Center’s Space Mirror Memorial. The widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee quietly observed the anniversary from her home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In a recent interview, June Scobee Rodgers said the presence of teacher Christa McAuliffe on the flight added to the crew’s lasting legacy. Scobee Rodgers helped establish the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in the wake of the accident, along with the other Challenger families. This year's observance focused on the Challenger crew — McAuliffe, Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis.

Barely 100 people — all masked and seated or standing far apart — gathered in front of Kennedy Space Center’s Space Mirror Memorial. The widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee quietly observed the anniversary from her home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In a recent interview, June Scobee Rodgers said the presence of teacher Christa McAuliffe on the flight added to the crew’s lasting legacy. Scobee Rodgers helped establish the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in the wake of the accident, along with the other Challenger families. This year's observance focused on the Challenger crew — McAuliffe, Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis.

Orders for the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Silver Dollar Commemorative Coin begin Jan. 28, 2021, on the 35th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, via the U.S. Mint website. (Image credit: U.S. Mint)A new U.S. coin honoring Christa McAuliffe , NASA's first "Teacher in Space," will help continue her educational mission 35 years after she and her six astronaut crewmates were tragically lost in flight. The United States Mint will begin accepting orders for the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Silver Dollar at 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) on Wednesday (Jan. 28), the 35th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. She and her STS-51L crewmates were tragically killed when a faulty rocket booster led to the space shuttle Challenger breaking apart 73 seconds into its launch on Jan. 28, 1986. Infographic: The Challenger shuttle disaster: What happened?

NASA astronaut William Thornton, STS-8 mission specialist, takes part in physiological studies on the space shuttle Challenger during his first of two spaceflights in 1983. (Image credit: NASA)As a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Challenger, Thornton and his four STS-8 crewmates became the first shuttle astronauts to launch and land at night. NASA astronaut Bill Thornton working with the treadmill he invented for use aboard the space shuttle. NASA astronaut William Thornton, STS-51B mission specialist, works inside the Spacelab module aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1985. When not flying in space, Thornton also worked on devising procedures and new techniques to maintain crew conditioning and health in space.

When officers saw the neon green Dodge Challenger believed to be the getaway car leaving the parking lot, they pursued it down Naperville Road and then onto eastbound Interstate 88, police said. The chase ended when they lost sight of the car as near Interstate 294, reports said.

President-elect Joe Biden listens during a meeting with his COVID-19 advisory council, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):9 p.m.International observers from the Organization of American States say they saw no instances of fraud or voting irregularities in the U.S. presidential election. Some Republicans are renewing their attacks on President-elect Joe Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump in Georgia, with Sens. Political appointees who are looking for job opportunities after President Donald Trump’s election defeat to President-elect Joe Biden should think twice. Carson is the first member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet known to have tested positive.

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___Maryland will allow up to 10% capacity at the two stadiums in the state that are home to NFL teams, Gov. The announcement affects M&T Bank Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens play, and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, where the Washington Football Team plays. M&T Bank Stadium has a total capacity of 71,008 and FedEx Field has a capacity of 82,000. ___Toronto FC will play before fans at its Nov. 1 game against Inter Miami CF in East Hartford, Connecticut. That group was limited to staff, family members and friends and was a test for State Farm Stadium’s COVID-19 protocols.

FILE - In this Oct. 21, 1960 file photo taken a television in New York displays a debate between Republican presidential candidate Vice President Richard M. Nixon, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kennedy, D-Mass. The 1960 presidential election offered the country's first televised debates. Here are some of the most memorable moments in presidential debate history:THE FIRST TELEVISED DEBATEThe 1960 presidential election offered the country's first televised debate. THE KIDS ARE OFF-LIMITSDemocrat John Kerry's response to a question about homosexuality during a 2004 presidential debate against Republican incumbent George W. Bush caused a fight between him and Vice President Dick Cheney. The women detailed their allegations against the former president as Trump watched, his hands folded in front of him.

The National Air and Space Museum, working with the Smithsonian Transcription Center, is seeking the public's help to expand access to the extensive, handwritten astronaut training notes by Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly into space. Before she became the first American woman to fly into space, Sally Ride needed to learn how to be an astronaut. Now, 30 years later, the public can help expand access to Ride's training experience by volunteering to transcribe her extensive handwritten notes. The museum has now added to the Smithsonian Transcription Center's website Ride's 1979 and 1980 NASA notebooks, as well as some of her flying instructions and training schedules. "When my friend and colleague Ellen Stofan mentioned she's spending some of Women's History Month transcribing astronaut Sally Ride's materials , I was eager to dig in," Bunch wrote on Twitter.

(Reuters) - U.S. companies have announced 633 layoffs related to the coronavirus outbreak so far, global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said on Thursday, providing the first tally of American job losses from what has mushroomed into a global pandemic. We are indeed seeing job cuts from companies that are grappling with Supply Shock. The entertainment and leisure sector is the most affected so far, Challenger said, with 300 job cuts largely resulting from event cancellations. Weekly government data on new claims for unemployment benefits out earlier on Thursday showed no impact from coronavirus, but Challenger and others expect layoffs to soon become more widespread. [nL1N2B4217]These will not be the last job cuts we see from this outbreak, Challenger said.

HOUSTON – A young married couple was killed in a six-vehicle crash in north Harris County Sunday night, sheriff’s deputies said. It happened in the 2900 block of West Mount Houston Road and West Montgomery Road at around 7:30 p.m.Investigators said they believe an orange Challenger was speeding and cutting cars off when one of the cars it cut off clipped the Challenger’s back end, causing the Challenger to spin out of control into oncoming traffic. The two occupants of the Challenger -- the young couple -- were pronounced dead at the scene, deputies said. A father and his 12-year-old son were also injured, but they are expected to survive.

On Jan. 28, 1986, seven astronauts were killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Thick plumes of smoke rise from bushfires at the coast of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia January 4, 2020 in this aerial picture taken from AMSA Challenger jet. The rising heat from the intense bushfires creates massive, powerful clouds called pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb. The bushfires in Australia are creating violent weather systems that can spark new fires, conjure fire tornadoes and make fighting existing fires much more challenging, experts say. About 20 "pyroCb pulses" have occurred over Victoria and New South Wales in the past week or so, Fromm said. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service also tweeted out on Saturday a video of the "pyrocumulous clouds forming" above the Currowan fire.

The firm started tracking CEO departures in 2002. "The number of chief executives who announced their departures in 2019 was staggering," said Andrew Challenger, Vice President of Challenger in a press release. Perhaps the most notable CEO news in December was the firing of Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg. Challenger tracks CEO changes at companies that have been in business for at least two years, with a minimum of 10 employees. The "Government and Non-Profit" sector leads all industries in CEO turnover in 2019 with 339 exits.

Those companies, and plenty more, saw their chief executives walk out the door just in the past few months, part of a record-breaking trend. That is up 14% compared to September and 15% more than the 149 CEO departures in October 2018. The report said most the CEO departures through October of this year -- 281 -- were from companies in the government and non-profit sector. The changes were prompted by "new legislation or political changes that influence leadership," the report said. The telecommunications and electronics sector was the second highest, with 188 departures, and financial companies had the third-highest number of CEO changes at 104.

The 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Mack Hogan | CNBCIn a straight line, the Challenger is unstoppable. The 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Mack Hogan | CNBCThat accessibility of power is what makes the Redeye special. The 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Mack Hogan | CNBCBecause the Challenger is gigantic, you also get five seats and a big trunk. The 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Mack Hogan | CNBCFirst off, the Redeye is heavy. Final thoughtsThe Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye is big, brash and frankly has no reason to exist.

(CNN) - The United States Mint is to memorialize Christa McAuliffe, the teacher and astronaut who died in the Challenger disaster in 1986, with a commemorative silver dollar coin. The Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Coin Act of 2019 was passed by Congress, and the bill will go to the President to be signed into law. The act calls for the Department of Treasury to "issue not more than 350,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of Christa McAuliffe." If the President signs the act, the coins will be minted in 2021 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the tragedy. FIRST uses robotic competitions to encourage children to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and family members of fallen astronauts took part in a memorial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Jan. 28, 2016, the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster.

On February 2, 1986, just days after the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, "Face the Nation" spoke with the acting NASA administrator and the brother of one of the pilots on the shuttle, among other guests.

The world is getting its first look at wreckage from the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. NASA is displaying pieces at the Kennedy Space Center as part of a tribute to the fallen crews. Mark Albert reports.