“I really don’t want to say goodbye to any of you people.” Christa McAuliffe
Tomorrow marks the 36th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. As a kid who was hooked on science fiction, had a subscription to Odyssey magazine, visited the Johnson Space Center, and dreamed of being an astronaut in the 1980’s, the Challenger mission was a huge part of my youth. I have fond memories of watching Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher and first civilian in space, training with NASA and getting a crash course in all things outer space. Much of her experience was documented with videos, photographs, and news articles that focused on her and her plans for the Teacher In Space Project. Thankfully I had teachers who went out of their way to allow myself and other students to consume as much information about Mrs. McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew that we could get our hands on in a small town school.
I idolized the crew. I wanted to be a pilot just like Michael Smith. I thought that Commander Francis “Dick” Scobee was cool and that his last name was even cooler. All of the mission and payload specialists, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, McAuliffe, and Judith Resnik, had a special place in my heart as well. I had a puppy love crush on Resnik. Onizuka, McNair, and Jarvis were all doing something that I wanted to do when I grew up. Mrs. McAuliffe was a teacher who was about to go into space. I envied her and her students.
Sadly, Mrs. McAuliffe never made it into space. As you probably all know, the Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off. There were no survivors. The space program was heavily questioned. It was also the end for NASA in many people’s eyes. Thankfully NASA is still around.
I vividly remember the day that the Challenger exploded. Myself and my fellow students along with a couple of other classes were all crammed into the library of my school. Our librarian, the wonderful Mrs. Malveaux, trucked out a TV stand and turned it on so that we could see the Challenger lift into space. I remember being shocked when the shuttle exploded. I remember the national news cutting to their studio and hearing the reporter (I believe it was Tom Brokaw) repeatedly say that the Challenger was destroyed and their were likely no survivors. I remember a few students crying and others like myself simply sitting there stunned. I will never forget that day.
The nice lady that we all claimed as our teacher, the country’s teacher, Mrs. McAuliffe, was gone. So were the other members of the crew. The awesome Michael Smith, Commander Scobee, Resnik, Onizuka, McNair, and Jarvis were gone.
I refuse to post a photo of the actual explosion. You can look that up for yourself. Instead, I hope that each and every one of you reading this take a moment to think on the lives lost on that fateful day in 1986. Think about the wonderful things that they had done prior to the mission and all of the great things that they could have accomplished had they successfully launched. Say a prayer for them and their families and any and every student who was ever inspired by a teacher or an astronaut.
Thank you for reading my post.
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