Saluting the Challenger crew, 37 years later
Today (Jan. 28, 2023) marks 37 years since the space shuttle Challenger
exploded 73 seconds after takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Since that disaster, which was caused by a failure of the O-rings that held the
shuttle’s solid rocket boosters bolted to the shuttle, we learned that many
engineers with Morton-Thiokol, which made the boosters, warned their superiors
and those at NASA against launching on a very cold morning in Florida, but
those warnings were sadly --- and tragically --- ignored, leading directly to
the explosion, according to investigations and books that came out in the
months and years following the Challenger disaster.
To mark that tragedy --- which occurred 19 years after the Apollo 1 launch pad
fire killed three astronauts during a test of the Apollo moon capsule on
Friday, Jan. 27, 1967 --- I’m posting
this column that I wrote for The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, on Feb. 1, 2006.
That column follows:
*****
(Note to readers: This column is based on remarks I was asked to
deliver during Saturday's program at the Women at Work Museum in Attleboro on
the 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster.)
*****
Time will always stand still for me while remembering certain historical
moments, including the Kennedy assassination (Nov. 22, 1963), the news that
Robert F. Kennedy had been shot (June 5, 1968), Richard Nixon's speech to the
nation (Aug. 8, 1974) announcing his intention to resign the next day and, of
course, the chilling events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Since I grew up in the '60s glued to the telecasts of the Mercury, Gemini and
Apollo space missions, many of my definable moments also surround the United
States space program, including the live television broadcast from moon orbit
at Christmas 1968 by the Apollo 8 astronauts and the July 20, 1969, lunar
landing and subsequent “giant leap for mankind” by Neil Armstrong.
But the space program has unfortunately also had some tragic moments, and of
all of those I will never forget where I was Jan. 28, 1986, when the space
shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on a clear, but cold,
morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I was in front of the
television in the newspaper where I worked at the time watching the CNN
coverage. Despite the presence of Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe, space
travel on that date — less than five years after the shuttle's maiden voyage on
April 12, 1981 — was considered “ routine,” and that day's launch was not being
covered by the broadcast networks.
I was watching the coverage because I had written a fanciful column — one that
was never published — about having applied for the Journalist in Space program,
and I wanted to verify that Challenger had lifted off. So I tuned in, expecting
a “routine” flight, only to quickly surmise that something had gone dreadfully
wrong.
The rest, as they say, is history, and on Saturday, as people gathered at the
Women at Work Museum in Attleboro for a tribute to the “Challenger 7” —
McAuliffe, Cmdr. Francis R. “ Dick” Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, mission
specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair and Ellison G. Onizuka; and
payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis — it was appropriate to reflect on their
lives, as well as on the other lives lost in the ongoing quest to explore
space.
Also paying with their lives were the three astronauts who were killed 19 years
and one day before the Challenger tragedy in the Apollo 1 launch-pad fire at
the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Original Mercury 7 astronaut Gus Grissom,
the second American to fly in space; Ed White, the first American to walk in
space; and rookie astronaut Roger Chaffee all lost their lives on that tragic
day, Jan. 27, 1967.
We also must remember those who died 17 years and four days after the
Challenger disaster, the seven-member crew of Columbia, who were killed when
their spacecraft burned up on re-entry three years ago today, Feb. 1, 2003 —
Cmdr. Rick Husband, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla and four astronauts on
their first space mission: Pilot William McCool, David Brown, Laurel Clark and
Ilan Ramon of Israel.
The sacrifices of those brave men and women — ordinary people doing
extraordinary things — teach us two lessons: that space travel is fraught with
risks and pitfalls that never should be underestimated, and that manned space
flight has never been routine.
As the space shuttle gets ready to mark the 25th anniversary of its inaugural
flight, it's worth noting that the shuttle is a space transportation system
born of post-Apollo technology. It's also essential to realize that the shuttle
is a piece of machinery that is risky by design, as it consists of four main
parts — the orbiter, external tank and two solid rocket boosters — and
thousands of other parts bolted together for liftoff.
That is ample reason why NASA, possibly in a new bold partnership with private
industry, must find the funds needed to design a new generation of space
vehicles that will be more in line with the 21st century instead of the
mid-20th century.
Of course, all that will cost billions, and there are millions who say that
NASA and the manned space program are colossal wastes of money, energy and
time. But anyone who urges eliminating NASA to save money is being naive. If
NASA were scrapped, the money wouldn't necessarily be reallocated to other programs,
but would be swallowed up by the federal budget.
If that happens, we as a nation will have done more than turn our backs on the
space program; we will have lost the vision of the space pioneers and heroes
with whom we've been blessed — and we will be dishonoring the lives of the “
Apollo 1 Three,” the “ Challenger 7” and the “ Columbia 7” astronauts.
LARRY KESSLER covered the space shuttle program while working in Florida in the
1970s and 1980s.
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