Saturday, January 30, 2021

35 Years and 73 Seconds

On Friday, January 28, 2011, I wrote the blog post "Another 25 Years Ago Moment".

Now, 10 years later, it is the 35th anniversary of the defining moment for an entire generation.  For me, who grew up with the space program, it is a sad anniversary in so many ways.  I missed it because of a couple of prescheduled blog hops, so I am late (with apologies).

On January 28, 1986 the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded, on live TV, 73 seconds after its launch.  All seven crew members, including a civilian, were killed.  Tragically, the explosion was caused by an O Ring failure - something so small caused something so big.  A local company, IBM (yes, IBM originated locally where I live) helped with the investigation as they built the computers on the flight.

At one time, the space race was an extension of what we called the Cold War between the United States and the then-Soviet Union, which is where some irony came in.

For years, we had to pay Russia to transport our astronauts to the International Space Station.  Now, only in the past year, we are able to do it ourselves once again, thanks to SpaceX.

We mourn all those who died, but Christa McAuliffe, the teacher from New Hampshire, is the one I really think about the most.  She was selected out of 11,000 applicants for the opportunity to participate.

I will always remember this day, January 28, 1986, for another reason.  My father had died suddenly the week before, and I was numb with grief.  I was back at work. My office got a call from a client, telling us of the disaster.  None of us could believe it - and this great grief cut through the grief and numbness of the last week.  I cried.  I mourned.  I mourned for my father, the astronauts, and our country.

Ronald Reagan's address to the nation after the Challenger explosion.

Here's some recent information on the husband of the late Christa McAuliffe, the one civilian on that 1986 flight.

Here, three of her students (who became teachers themselves) are interviewed.  Would they have gone into teaching if they hadn't seen their teacher die, live on TV?  I wonder.

One of my readers (who lives in Florida) told me of the Florida commemorative license plate (some call them "tags") issued after this tragedy, and sure enough I found it online.

It's ironic in a way - in a way the Challenger explosion (which put a two year pause on the space program) led to the eventual creation of SpaceX.  So, in a strange way, we have gone full circle.

Now, 35 years later, let us rededicate ourselves to getting back into space, pandemic and all.

8 comments:

  1. I visited the Kennedy Space Center in October 2016. There is a beautiful memorial to all who were lost in the space program, including those who died in the Challenger disaster. It is a somber place. The message, though, is that those who died believed the risk was worth the reward of space exploration.

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  2. ...something that is stored in my dusty memory.

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  3. Events can be set in our memories like that. You will always associate the Challenger with your dad's death. We all remember what we were doing on 9/11. My oldest son just recently mentioned how his students weren't even BORN when it happened!

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  4. I will never forget the moment. I was working for the govt. Someone said, "Our shuttle blew up." For a moment, I assumed he was talking about the shuttle bus that moved people from building to building in our agency. Well before 9/11, they would put a mirror under the bus to check for bombs. But it wasn't the bus. We had a memorial service in our auditorium and sang "Eternal Father Strong to Save." Everyone was crying.

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  5. My youngest was turning five the next day and I was busy running around. When I got to his nursery school to pick him up, I had no idea what all the commotion was. Sometimes, I think not seeing it happen is better. Wish I could unsee Jan 6 and 9/11.

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  6. That was Mary's and my eighth wedding anniversary.

    I may have told you this: They blamed the disaster on Morton Thiokol, who manufactured the O-rings that failed. The week after, I had to go to Morton Thiokol for work. Very quiet, and very tense. I heard later that someone from the company tried to get NASA to put a hold on the launch, because they were concerned that the cold air temperature (it was in the 30's) might cause the O-rings to fail. NASA gave some kind of "it's too late, the countdown has started" response...

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  7. I remember that.
    Coffee is on and stay safe

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  8. They named a middle school after her nearby. My niece went there.

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