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.