Beyoncé Criticized for Sampling Shuttle Tragedy on New Album

Beyoncé is receiving criticism after sampling audio from the space shuttle Challenger disaster for a new love song and former NASA astronauts and families are not happy about it.

The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center on January 28, 1986. All seven crewmembers aboard were killed. “Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," were the words spoken by now-retired NASA public affairs officer Steve Nesbitt as the nation watched wreckage fall toward the ocean on live television. Twenty-seven years later, Nesbitt’s voice is heard at the beginning of the video for Beyoncé’s new song “XO”, about a troubled relationship. The audio clip is short, lasting just six seconds. But former and current NASA astronauts, employees and Challenger family members argue that using it in a pop song mocks the crew’s sacrifice and opens fresh wounds.

So far no comment from Beyoncé or her people.