NASA responds to Beyonce’s Challenger sample, says accident shouldn’t be ‘trivialized’

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – NASA officials say the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident “should never be trivialized” in response to a new song from Beyonce that features an audio sample recorded just after tragedy struck.

The space agency issued a statement late Tuesday after the pop star began to receive criticism from Challenger families and others for using the short sample. It includes the words “major malfunction” as an allusion to a failed relationship.

In a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, Beyonce said her “heart goes out to families of those lost in the Challenger disaster” and the song was recorded with the “sincerest intention” to help those who’ve lost loved ones.

The snippet comes at the beginning of her song “XO” from her new self-titled album.