Beyoncé criticized for use of recording excerpt from the tragedy of ... - The Associated Press

Beyoncé this month launched a pop album, which hit the market in digital format without warnings or promotional campaigns. Now, one of its namesake album tracks generated controversy: the ballad XO , the pop princess uses an excerpt of what was heard on TV when the public relations of the U.S. space agency tried to communicate to the world that a tragedy happening in the sky, when the Space Shuttle Challenger descontrolava and killed seven astronauts. Beyonce defends itself, saying that it is a “tribute” to the victims. NASA stresses that the event should not be “trivialized”.

“ Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously, the malfunction Major,” said Steve Nesbitt, NASA, when the Challenger suffered from technical problems to explode in seconds over the Atlantic, to 14 thousand feet, on the morning of January 28, 1986. XO begins with this excerpt audio, noticed Monday morning by former NASA employee Keith Cowing on your blog, and the singer explains that the sound was included “in tribute to the selfless work of Challenger , with the hope that will never be forgotten. ” Beyoncé also expresses solidarity with the families of victims and adds in a statement sent to American television station ABC News that the song “was recorded with the sincere intention of helping” people “who have lost loved ones” to overcome their pain.

However, the explanation of Beyoncé did not meet the target. The wife of mission commander Dick Scobee, who died in the accident, also said in a statement, quoted by CNN, saying he was “disappointed” to learn of the use of sound that followed the tragedy. June Scobee Rodgers explains that “the moment included in this song is a [time] difficult for families, colleagues and friends Challenger “. Also retired astronaut Clayton Andersen criticized the singer.

NASA responded through its spokesman Allard Beutel, who says that “the Challenger accident is an important part of our history, a tragic reminder that space exploration is risky and should never be trivialized.”

Aboard the Challenger followed Francis Scobee (46 years), the co-pilot Michael Smith (39 years), Colonel Ellison Onizuka (40), the payload specialist Gregory Jarvis (42 years) the engineer Judith Resnik (37 years), physicist Ronald McNair (38 years) and what would be the first American teacher to travel in space, Christa McAuliffe (37 years). The commission of inquiry into the tenth accident shuttle mission, dubbed the Rogers Commission concluded that a defect in the joint of solid fuel rockets of the shuttle caused the accident that mark the history of the American space agency, leading to a stop for more than two years in space exploration program.