My son, Alex, talks about Jeff Bezos going to space without any fear or doubt that it's a good idea. I sat in my first grade classroom, after months of learning about Christa McAuliffe and watcher her space shuttle explode. I have different feelings about going to space.
All of the talk about these billionaires going to space led me to thinking about The Challenger and wanting to know more. I watched the Netflix series Challenger: The Final Flight. What I knew of Christa McAuliffe before was from a young child's perspective. Watching the documentary, I am now older that Christa was when she died. She had a son and a daughter like I do- her children watched her space shuttle explode. They were 9 years old and 6 years old. Beyond Christa, the other astronauts on that ill-fated flight where extraordinary people. Their family members came in to share memories of them and their love and excitement for space. They were all so hopeful and so passionate. They were so trusting that NASA would keep them safe. Watching the show, you see the ice on the shuttle and you hear about the o rings and how they fail in cold weather. You want to yell all them all not to board that spaceship- to turn back. To wait for warmer temperatures. To just stay on earth. The teacher who was the runner-up to go to space, Barbara Morgan, trained right alongside Christa and the other astronauts for months. I can't imagine all she felt as she stood there and saw the explosion. I want to know more. I want to know how Christa McAuliffe's family went home without her, to live a life without her after all that excitement and joy that she had been chosen for this special honor. I read that her children are both teachers now. WHat was life like for them? I want to know how the people who said it was safe to fly went to bed that night and every night after, knowing their decision killed 7 people. They didn't know for sure, but there was enough doubt that should have grounded that shuttle. I always felt sad thinking about The Challenger explosion, but after watching the Netflix series, I know so much more about all the astronauts and Christa. To know that this could have been prevented is just so tragic. It's left me with a feeling of heaviness and sadness. I spoke to my sister about it and she said that they died doing something they wanted to do, that they knew the risks. I read that Christa's husband says her mission was fulfilled because she inspired so many teachers and students, for generations. She's inspired me. What an amazing person she was. Do you remember watching The Challenger?
8 Comments
Erika Victor
7/13/2021 05:35:39 am
Calculating risks and balancing it with passions- not easy and shoulda, woulda, coulda... Hard!
Reply
7/13/2021 07:17:20 am
Yes, I do remember. I haven’t researched it like you have and so I haven’t had that feeling of- “this could have been avoided.” I am close to someone who watched it in person, from a laundromat parking lot, with a small crowd. I remember it with every lift-off I see.
Reply
Glenda M. Funk
7/13/2021 09:57:51 am
“I touch the future. I teach.” Christa McAuliffe. I had a t-shirt w/ these words on it. I was a you g teacher full of hope in this country that had not yet learned to vilify teachers. It was a different time. And while the cracks in our profession had already begun to form, as w/ those O rings, we were unaware of his wide the fissure would grow. I can’t imagine being a young person choosing teaching now, knowing they will be society”s whipping post. When the Challenger exploded, it was like the explosion of a career. It makes me so sad to think about it.
Reply
7/13/2021 11:15:24 am
Nice post. Yes, I remember The Challenger disaster. I was a nurse at my first job in a neonatal intensive care unit in Rochester, NY. My new friend, also a nurse in the same unit, and I were going out for drinks that afternoon. I stood in her apartment watching the Challenger take off, filled with anticipation and hope. As you know, within seconds, it exploded. It was devastating. I have never watched the Netflix movie telling about the people on board that flight. I will have to do so now. Thank you for sharing what you've wondered about.
Reply
7/13/2021 11:31:15 am
I thought the same as I read about Bezos going up. I was in high school when this happened and I remember watching the re-play of the explosion. I didn't know there was a movie about it. I might have to watch.
Reply
7/13/2021 02:26:45 pm
I remember watching the lift-off, Kathleen. It was such an awful explosion that left everyone speechless. The members of the flight were so brave. It is hard to imagine taking a shuttle to space without training as an astronaut.
Reply
7/13/2021 07:00:55 pm
What a fascinating post. I was on jury duty at the time of Challenger explosion and was on a break. I went to a concession stand for snack, and there was a TV set on behind the counter. I don't remember if the explosion I saw was when it first happened or a new replay, which happened endlessly that day. It was horrifying. I had been a big science fiction fan as a teen, but lost interest when so many of the early astronauts were military pilots. But with more civilians, and a teacher, going to space, I was more interested. The explosion crashed that interest.
Reply
7/13/2021 07:32:13 pm
Oh. I DO remember watching the Challenger. I was in my science class. We were all glued to the TV. And we were watching that rocket rise, rise, rise...and then that tiny...POP. And then nothing. We sat transfixed, horrified. And then my science teacher turned the TV off and said, "I'd still go up in a heartbeat."
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorKathleen Neagle Sokolowski Archives
February 2024
Categories |