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How Big Bird escaped death on the space shuttle
Sesame Street character was offered place on doomed Challenger mission before Nasa realised the giant Sesame Street character wouldn't fit, according to new documentary
Big Bird, the giant yellow-feathered Sesame Street character, was offered a place on the doomed Challenger space shuttle mission but had to withdraw because his oversized costume would not fit in the craft.
The extraordinary revelation is contained in a new documentary I Am Big Bird, which tells the story of the Jim Henson creation and the man who has played him for 45 years, Caroll Spinney.
Big Bird - with Mr Spinney in full costume – was selected initially to take part in the 1986 Challenger mission as part of a Nasa initiative to encourage children to become more engaged in the US space programme.
When the logistical problems of trying to send an eight-foot, two-inch character into space became clear, the idea was scrapped.
Instead his place was given to a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, according to the film.
She was selected to communicate with students during the space shuttle's flight but died with six other astronauts when Challenger broke apart barely a minute into its flight in January 1986.
Mr Spinney said the cast and crew of Sesame Street stopped filming to watch the launch.
"I couldn’t believe how horrible that was and we were grieving for the pilots and the teacher, for their families and them losing their life like that,” he told CBC in an interview to promote the film. “So tragic."
Mr Spinney, now 81, also reveals how he was able to use the costume to hide his tears as he dealt with divorce and depression, and when he sang “Bein’ Green” at Jim Henson’s funeral.