Everyone has an "I-remember-what-I-was-doing-when-so-so-happened-story.”
For some reason, I can still clearly recall the day I heard about the Challenger disaster as though it was yesterday.
I was a sophomore at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas when it happened and learned about it during lunch from Kelly Reed, a friend of mine whom I still keep in touch with. Kelly heard about it from some upper classmen who watched the launch on TV during class and were talking about as they were waiting in the lunch line.
As I was talking with two other buddies of mine, Tom Kelley and Joel Matthews, Reed sat down and told us he heard from some people that the shuttle blew up.
The only thing I knew about Challenger at the time was it was the most widely publicized mission at the time since the crew included a civilian, Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher.As more students around us talked about the disaster, Tom later remarked that he hoped the shuttle hadn't blown up as if knowing the obvious setbacks such a catastrophe would cause for America's space program; a comment today he claims he never said but I know otherwise.
Later that afternoon, the school's chaplain, Father Sean Martin, announced on the PA system asking the students, faculty and administration for a moment of silence shortly before classes ended that day.
When I got home, I turned the TV to CNN where as usual, the media demonstrated what they continue to do so well every time a major catastrophe happens; replaying the entire 73 seconds from the time the shuttle launched to the moment it exploded to its aftermath capturing spectator’s looks of disbelief.
What was most tragic about Challenger and is now repeated with the Columbia is how America didn't learn of the crew's names and how they lived their lives until after the disasters occurred.It's a good bet had Feb. 1, 2003 been a day of homecomings, parties and debriefings instead of a day of somber press conferences from NASA officials trying to explain what happened, we would have never heard of Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark or Ilan Ramon. Most of us probably wouldn’t have even known the crew included two people of different nationalities for the first time: an Indian and an Israeli.
If 9/11 begged the question, why does it take a major catastrophe for one to consider how mortal we all are, the Columbia disaster suggests how tragic it is to know the only time we ever learn about the private lives of these brave souls is after a fatal mishap occurs. It is then that we escalate them to the status of heroes.
The fact is the Columbia 7 were heroes the moment they chose to become astronauts. They were doing something they perhaps dreamed of doing since they were kids. How many people do you know who truly enjoy getting up every morning and going to work regardless of the paycheck, daily hassles, or the dangers that might come with the job, if any? I only know of one and he works for The Baltimore Sun.I am not at all surprised that in the wake of this latest tragedy that some Americans, not to mention the press are once again questioning whether or not the space program should continue just as they did after Challenger.
The facts, however, speak for themselves. The demise of the Titanic didn't put an end to luxury liners. And while the destruction of the Hindenburg in 1936 put an end to flying zeppelins running on flammable hydrogen as an alternate means of travel, there are still those rare moments today where we see the Goodyear Blimp flying in the sky such as during the Super Bowl.
Aviation has had more than its share of countless air disasters since the Wright Brothers flew their plane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903. Today, despite the troubled economy and the threat of terrorism, have airplane crashes kept people from flying?
In its 42-year history so far, NASA has lost only 17 people. The deaths of Lt. Col. Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, USAF, Lt. Col. Edward H. White II, USAF, and Navy Lt. Roger B. Chaffe in a flash fire inside the Apollo 204 capsule on Jan. 27, 1967, didn’t stop NASA from achieving what President Kennedy wanted America to one day accomplish: to be the first to send a man to the moon. That happened on July 20, 1969.The shuttle program continued after Challenger, albeit almost three years later with the Shuttle Discovery returning to space Sept. 29, 1988. It will continue after Columbia as well, whether it takes six months, a year or longer for NASA to find out what happened, we will return to space.
Not doing so would dishonor the memories of the men and women of the Columbia 7 and those who went before them. And that alone would be far worse than the tragedy itself.
©2/5/03
