Thirty years ago today sometime close to noon I was in my office when Linda St. John burst through the door screaming that it had just blown up and they didn’t even know where they were…
The incident that Linda (a co-worker) was rightly upset about was the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
The project that I was heavily involved with at the time was dependent on the use of the space shuttle. We had become so complacent about going into space that the launches weren’t even broadcast on TV most of the time. However, this one was a little different — on board was the first “civilian” — a teacher (Christa McAuliffe.) We had somehow convinced ourselves that space missions were now routine enough to invite the public along….
Of course, that all changed 73 seconds after the shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral on January 28, 1986. President Reagan spoke to the Nation later that day and I remember his speech as being very consolatory and saying something about the risks of space exploration and the pioneering spirit and that we’ll continue to take risks and life will go on. I’m sure the words came from speech writers, but Reagan had a way of delivering messages that made people feel better.
I’ve lived long enough to have experienced a number of truly historic events — when all is told years from now, how they’ll stack up against the historical events of all time I have no idea. But I do know that these events that take place in our lifetime are more important to us because we were “there.” It’s fine to read about these things in textbooks, but the emotions experienced at they time they occurred just don’t come across on a printed page.
Shortly after the Challenger accident, my boss told me that our jobs just became a lot harder. I guess that was somewhat true, but what about those people whose lives became a lot harder…..
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