Remember the Challenger
Twenty-five years ago today, I was walking up Fifth Avenue on my way to my job as a writer at the ABC Radio News Network when I noticed the flags at Rockefeller Center were at half mast. I arrived at the ABC studios to find the newsroom in a bizarre state: a sort of frantic silence, full of energy and motion but almost devoid of sound. I walked into one of the recording booths and said, "What's going on?" One of the engineers gestured at a television set where they were replaying footage of the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. I was literally staggered, lost my legs, sank into a chair. Moments later, when my shift began, I became part of the newsroom's frenzy, so busy taking in news feeds, doing interviews and writing leads that I had to work to find thirty seconds, later in the day, to sit in a room alone and bury my face in my hands.
Notwithstanding the inspiring brilliance of Reagan's memorial speech, the Challenger Disaster was a disaster indeed: horrible in itself and a warning that we had, pace Tom Wolfe, screwed the pooch of space. In a moment of sputnik-inspired panic, we allowed government to swallow the resources of exploration, guaranteeing that we would ultimately be stuck with a space agency that, despite the brilliance and heroism of its individuals, is not only unaffordable but spending what little it has on largely useless small ball projects... when it's not doing White House-ordered outreach to the Muslim world!
So is this another sputnik moment, as our president says, when panic over economic competition allows government to swallow the tasks of the free market? If it is, I can foresee some bright young fellow 25 years from now, staggered to see flaming fragments of the American economy tumbling out of the sky, crashing into the sea. Remember the Challenger.
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Jun '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
Challenger: I walked into a court hearing and someone mentioned it. The hearing became a whole lot less important.
The Kennedy assassination: 7th grade, in the school lunch line--they announced over the intercom that the president was dead. Even then, I was a good Republican, but nearly cried.
9/11: Dropped by youngest son at High School and heard on the radio that they thought a small plane had crashed into the WTC--initial report did not suspect terrorism.
U.S. Economy: Hope never to hear that it has crashed from the sky.
Oct '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
Thank you Andrew, You have given us a moment to reflect not so much on disasters past, which shook our world, and led to open sorrow, but a moment to reflect on disasters future. We cannot indulge our sorrow over those future events. We can only resolve to be, collectively, the person who gets a shot off at Lee Harvey Oswald or getting Mohammad Atta before he and his compatriots brought their plot to fruition.
God help us to retain our focus, despite the odds and opposition.
May '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
I hate to make you guys feel old, but...
I was six years old when the Challenger exploded. My elementary school, just outside Houston, hung pictures of the deceased crew in a hall. I understood then that the event made a strong impression on some people. But, perhaps because space shuttles have always been around during my lifetime, the disaster didn't hit me any harder than hearing about a car accident or apartment fire.
One's perception of normality is strongly dependent on experience. Each generation has its tragedies and triumphs which the next generation will never fully understand. The freedoms lost today will not be missed by every youngster who never experienced that liberty.
Incidentally, I would appreciate if y'all could try to explain why the Challenger disaster was so personal for you (why it was such an emotional experience).
Jul '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
I was on a support task at a White Sands satellite operations facility watching the launch on the big screen with all non-essential personnel. It was our payload.
I was standing in the back next to Scobee's next door neighbor, who was driving to Edwards for the anticipated touchdown by Challenger and had a VIP invitation to watch our big screen NASA feed.
Save your amazement for the fact that up to 1986 we lost only 10 astronauts, between the tragic Apollo 1 fire during ground testing and Challenger.
I will not defend the space shuttle program, it failed to meet every promise, from weekly launches to the height of orbits achievable. To make it look useful, they used it as a satellite launch capability. This required us to shrink many satellite missions so that the payload could fit in the shuttle bay, raised launch expenses, and put astronaut lives at risk on every launch. The stated objective was to improve the success rate for satellite injection, but even at 10 rather than 50 launches a year, and with a backlog of scientific missions, it gave the shuttles another excuse for being.
Edited on Jan 28, 2011 at 2:34pmOct '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
I was a sophomore in college and had an extended break between my morning and afternoon classes and had decided to go home that morning. I knew there was a shuttle launch but I didn't think to turn on the tv. Instead, I turned on the radio to my favorite music station of the time.
Suddenly, the music stopped and went to a news feed. I knew that something was wrong and instantly thought of the shuttle. I stepped outside (here in Central Florida we can actually see the contrails) and knew from the shape that something had seriously gone wrong. I turned off the radio and turned on CNN. At the point I started watching, I still remember that there was hope that the astronauts had survived.
Sep '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
Aaron Miller: (P)erhaps because space shuttles have always been around during my lifetime, the disaster didn't hit me any harder than hearing about a car accident or apartment fire....
Incidentally, I would appreciate if y'all could try to explain why the Challenger disaster was so personal for you (why it was such an emotional experience). · Jan 28 at 11:39am
I think one of the reasons was that for many of us (I was a young engineer at the time), NASA was heroic, a kind of shining champion for human dreams. If that sounds overwrought, it was; but we had seen the Moon landings. Those who were born too late to witness Apollo will never really know what it was like to see human beings standing on another world for the first time.
Even though the shuttle was stuck in low earth orbit, it was still a legacy of Apollo and the days of heroic achievement. To see the explosion of Challenger was like seeing an admired older brother suddenly cut down in his prime.
Edited on Jan 28, 2011 at 2:17pmOct '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
I worked in Concord, NH during the time of Christa McAuliffe's selection and training as America's teacher in space. The loss of Challenger's crew was heartbreaking.
I remember watching a memorial service (maybe it was the official one, I'm not sure) a few days later. A young woman from one of the branches of the military was chosen to play Taps. I remember her starting to play, and at some point she was so overcome with grief that she couldn't finish, and wept. I had never seen that happen, couldn't imagine it. My reaction mirrored hers moments later. It has stuck with me to this day.
RIP Mission 51-L.
Sep '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
I was stationed at a Helicopter squadron in Pensacola. I remember that morning, on my way in to work, thinking, "it is not supposed to be this cold in Florida." And of course the cold was a real factor in the Challenger mishap. O rings and all like that. A couple of other things I remember, politically incorrect though they may be, the Shuttle program had developed a sort of circus atmosphere by then. The public, or at least the media, was jaded-- hence the first congressman in space, the first teacher in space and so on. We collectively had forgotten how dangerous sitting on top of a rocket was. So it was a big shock when the thing blew to pieces killing several human beings instantly. Serious business this space travel, best to not forget it.
Jun '10
Re: Remember the Challenger
I was in an 9th grade English class on that cold January morning (like it is anything but cold in North Dakota in January). Word filtered quickly down the hall, and we ran to one of the few television sets on top of a push cart to try to tune in to the NBC broadcast. Other than watching the available footage over and over, marvelling darkly at the understatement of the moment ("we have experienced a major malfunction"), most of that day has been lost to the recesses of my mind. I do remember President Reagan's address from the Oval Office, but that memory has been augmented by the wonders of YouTube.
For the crew of STS-51-L, I raise the proverbial glass to you in memory and thanks. "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
Jan '11
Re: Remember the Challenger
I think I was in the second grade when Challenger exploded. I think the school got together and the principal making a speech to all the students. I was really into astronauts and space travel as a kid, and I remember Challenger being a big part of my year through the summer.
Many years later, I read one of the Richard Feynman memoirs, and he spoke of the Challenger investigation. He described a moment in which he discovered the disconnect between management and the engineers regarding the probability of catastrophic failure. 1 in 100,000 vs. 1 in 100. Their losses were bad enough, but it was made worse that they never fully understood the risks.
Now, we can only hope that they, through their sacrifice, inspire us to reach ever higher.