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The Challenger launch in 1986 was a disaster in every sense — especially, of course, in a human sense, with the loss of seven lives when the shuttle exploded thanks to two temperamental o-rings.

The horror was only amplified by the fact that, because the Challenger was supposed to boost public interest in space travel, it was national appointment viewing. And so, not only was the explosion witnessed in real time by most of the country, but among the dead was a teacher named Christa McAuliffe, who was supposed to have been the first civilian in space. 

But there was one detail, luckily avoided, that would have made the Challenger even more tragic: At one point in planning, they considered that the first civilian in space wouldn’t be a teacher, but instead Big Bird from Sesame Street. The plan never got incredibly far, probably due to space constraints. He is, after all, a very big bird. 

The intent, though, has been confirmed by both NASA and Big Bird’s puppeteer, Caroll Spinney, which means, in an alternate timeline, the nation’s children would have watched a dear, anthropomorphic friend toss them a thumbs up, and 37 seconds later, explode.

It’s even more insanely dark when you consider that, for a lot of the children watching Sesame Street, they likely haven’t completely cracked the fact that Big Bird is a puppet. To them, Sesame Street is a real place, where Big Bird packed his bags before heading to Cape Canaveral to be blown to bits, with kids crying because they think Big Bird died, and adults crying because the man they know is working Big Bird’s mouth died. 

It would be like mourning origami, each fold a person in tears for slightly different reasons.

The bigger question to me: Why choose Big Bird when Oscar the Grouch is already designed to cram himself into small spaces? Even in the worst-case scenario, it would have given Oscar a helluva hero arc.

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