Challenger and Columbia

For someone so intimately involved in the space program, the Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Columbia disaster in 2006 hit especially hard.

Oh my god, it's finally happened! Several minutes ago, we watched the Shuttle explode. No one could really believe it. We just watch, moist, mostly dry-eyed. It's a very bad nightmare. I feel shaky inside . . . everything was looking good for launch. The weather was clear. I guess the icicles were gone. I thought the liftoff was a bit slow, but what do I know? I had an ominous feeling, but it was not the first time..."

All astronauts spend time at Torres's workplace, the Johnson Space Center, because it also includes all of NASA's astronaut training facilites, and the Houston area boasts more astronauts than anywhere else in the world. The astronauts who lost their lives were likely known around the facility, making the tradgedy in many ways a personal one. The Candy Torres collection includes a few items relating to the Columbia disaster, pictured below.