MYRTLE BEACH -- It's one of those "where were you when it happened?" moments. Twenty-five years ago Friday, NASA's Challenger space shuttle launched itself into the Florida sky. It didn't come back down. Seventy-three seconds after takeoff, Challenger exploded, disintegrating off the Florida coast.
The explosion killed the seven crew members on board. Their lives are celebrated every year on this day and every day in many ways.
Three of the crew members who lost their lives on Challenger live on in Horry County.
Ron McNair, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee. Sound familiar? You may have seen them as Ron McNair Boulevard, Christa McAuliffe Street and Dick Scobee Road.
Those area roadways run through the River Oaks area of Horry County, near Highway 501, just west of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The roadways were named after the trio in the years following the explosion.
The task of naming county roads is left up to the Horry County Planning Commission. Eddie Dyer, a Planning Commission board member, said interested groups - area businesses, project developers and county residents - typically submit suggestions for namesakes.
In his more than two years on the commission, Dyer said a naming request has never been turned down.
Horry County spokesperson, Lisa Bourcier, noted that Ron McNair Boulevard is a county road, Christa McAuliffe Street is mostly county and partly private, while Dick Scobee Road is chiefly a state road with a small portion belonging to the county.
Ron McNair, a Florence County native, is also in the South Carolina Hall of Fame, which can be found at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
