Cash breaks his wrist while jumping against a wall with friends, ending his chance to play basketball.

Ms. Salonga begins a science unit centered on the upcoming space shuttle Challenger mission.

Students in Ms. Salonga's class are divided into groups mirroring the seven Challenger crew members.

The Thomas parents have a vicious argument after Tammy comes home late from work.

Bird visits Dani Logan's home for the first time and is astonished by the peaceful family atmosphere.

Fitch shouts cruel insults at Amanda Piper in Ms. Salonga's class and throws his notebook across the room.

Cash calls Penny's boyfriend a dork to her face, and Penny responds with open contempt.

Fitch is suspended from school for three days and banned from going to the arcade.

Cash visits Coach Farnsworth during lunch to ask about trying out for the track team.

The Challenger launch is postponed several days due to uncharacteristically cold weather.

Bird arrives early and settles in the front row of the auditorium to watch the Challenger launch live.

The Challenger explodes on its ascent and Bird flees the auditorium in shock and anguish.

Cash and Fitch wait outside the school entrance together and walk Bird home after the disaster.

Bird throws her entire collection of hand-drawn schematics in the garbage.

Cash and Fitch set up a backyard picnic under the stars for Bird and present her compiled schematics in a binder.

In January 1986, Cash breaks his wrist and loses his last connection to school just as teacher Ms. Salonga launches a unit on the upcoming Challenger mission. While Bird grows passionate about becoming an astronaut and is surprised by the welcoming home of her new friend Dani Logan, Fitch's temper explodes in class and earns him a three-day suspension. Cash tries and fails to impress his crush using his father's bad advice, deepening his sense of being lost and left behind. When the Challenger launches and then explodes on live television, Bird is devastated, and all three siblings come together to walk her home from school. Her brothers ultimately organize a backyard picnic and return her discarded schematics, showing her she is not alone in her grief.

The headline events of three siblings' lives during the Challenger disaster.

Bird interrupts Fitch's arcade game to tell him Cash has been hurt and they need to leave.

Bird stays up through the night drawing her imagined version of Cash's broken wrist X-ray.

Amanda Piper gives Fitch a Darth Vader sticker during Ms. Salonga's class.

Bird draws the mission specialist role instead of her preferred position of shuttle commander.

Fitch grabs Vern's wrist at the arcade and warns him never to touch Fitch again.

Fitch shouts from upstairs demanding to know why his parents ever got married, then slams his door.

Amanda appears at the arcade, and Rachel Hill tells Fitch that he and Amanda make a cute couple.

Cash watches a basketball game with his father, who advises him to one-up rival boys to win a girl.

Fitch joins Bird on the hood of the family car to stargaze, and she reveals her dream of becoming an astronaut.

Fitch gives Bird one of his audio cassettes to take apart and asks her to explain why she does it.

Fitch returns to school after his suspension to find his classmates now regard him as a legend.

Two classmates tell Fitch at the arcade that popular girl Rachel Hill has a crush on him.

Ms. Salonga announces that one hundred students will be chosen by essay contest to watch the Challenger launch live.

Bird sneaks into the Logans' empty house alone and whispers to their cat that the crew didn't make it.

Fitch finds a discarded quarter in a payphone slot and approaches Marsh to offer to teach him pinball.

From the moment Bird drags Fitch out of the arcade to help their injured brother, the siblings' separate worlds are set in motion. Fitch's patience is tested repeatedly by Amanda's attention and Vern's relentless teasing, while Bird quietly navigates social awkwardness and Cash searches for a sense of belonging. Key secondary moments include a late-night stargazing conversation that briefly reconnects Fitch and Bird, a father's basketball-game advice that gives Cash the wrong idea, and the strange way Fitch's suspension elevates his social status among classmates. Ms. Salonga's essay contest announcement foreshadows the coming disaster by drawing Bird even deeper into her attachment to the mission. The story closes with Fitch turning away from his solitary arcade habit to befriend young Marsh, completing the arc of his personal growth.

The smaller moments that shaped each sibling's journey from New Year's to the disaster.

Cash realizes his broken wrist ends basketball season, leaving him with no reason to try at school.

Jessica Diaz tells Bird she isn't as pretty as Judith Resnik and that being smart is Bird's thing.

Ms. Salonga narrates the Challenger launch sequence with students' eyes closed, and Bird fully immerses herself in the experience.

Dani Logan invites Bird to come over after school, the first time any classmate has ever asked her.

Bird has an imaginary conversation with Judith Resnik about whether it makes sense to only be one thing.

Bird has dinner at Dani Logan's house, and the family raises a toast to her future as shuttle commander.

Brant reminds Cash that only he and Kenny will advance to high school, leaving Cash behind yet again.

Fitch lashes out at Bird, telling her she will never be a shuttle commander and will end up like their mother.

Fitch hides in his parents' closet during his suspension and is reminded of childhood hide-and-seek games with his siblings.

Bird tells Devonte she isn't interested in him romantically, only to learn he never had a crush on her and finds her plain.

Fitch searches the phone book for Amanda's number, calls her house, but cannot bring himself to speak when she answers.

Bird sneaks into the family car and simulates a Challenger launch while her parents argue inside the house.

Fitch gets into the car beside Bird, apologizes for his earlier outburst, and insists she is capable of becoming an astronaut.

Fitch waits outside Ms. Salonga's classroom to apologize to Amanda in person, and she walks away without speaking.

Ms. Salonga tells her classes that the Challenger crew's example teaches everyone to prepare themselves to rise to any occasion.

Each sibling experiences a pivotal realization early in January: Cash sees his injury as proof he has nothing left to lose, Bird begins doubting herself after a classmate diminishes her looks, and Ms. Salonga's immersive classroom exercise ignites Bird's deepest astronaut dreams. The story then turns on a series of painful confrontations — Fitch wounding Bird with cruel words about her future, Bird enduring an unexpected rejection from Devonte, and Fitch's failed attempt to apologize to Amanda by phone. In the days before the launch, Fitch apologizes to Bird inside the family car and assures her she is capable of her dreams, marking the first real shift in their fractured sibling bond. The Challenger disaster shatters Bird's confidence entirely, but Ms. Salonga's speech about the crew's example — preparing oneself to rise to every occasion — offers all three siblings a reason to keep moving forward.