It´s worse than you thought.
It is not only a reference to the Challenger Disaster but also to the fact it was supposed to be an item in Maniac Mansion that was eventually dropped (probably because back then it was indeed too soon):
Well, there was a clear reference to che Chernobyl disaster, in Maniac Mansion. The nuclear reactor was “Made in Chernobyl”.
Both disasters (Challenger and Chernobyl) occurred in 1986.
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True but one of those things happened in a far away soviet country, so maybe that made a difference for potentially offended american players.
Maybe.
For european users, by the way, that far away soviet country was close enough, to be touched by that radioactive cloud.
Anyway, that’s another story.
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Oh yes, I´m from germany, so I know that. Even though I have no first hand recollections.
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