Remembering Challenger

Posted 10/31/18

The race to the moon. Another thing today’s kids will miss. 

Was there anything more exciting than the race to put a man on the moon? It started on a cold October night back in 1957. I …

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Remembering Challenger

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The race to the moon. Another thing today’s kids will miss. 
Was there anything more exciting than the race to put a man on the moon? It started on a cold October night back in 1957. I stood out on a frosty lawn staring into the sky looking for Russia’s Sputnik. There through the crisp clear night I saw it, blinking as it orbited Earth. If only we could have seen what Sputnik would lead to -- weather satellites, GPS, telecommunications, and footprints on the moon.
Here are some names you’ll remember: Chuck Yeager, John Glen, Gus Grissom, Chris Kraft. You’ll remember these, too: Gemini, Mercury, the Apollo program, Saturn, Tranquility Base, and Mission Control.
Many times I’ve been to Cape Canaveral. It’s a spellbinding place. The TV coverage of launches was spellbinding, too. Back when we were launching men into space, everyone was glued to the TV. The countdown was riveting. Much of the allure was the extreme risks involved. Remember when Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee died in the capsule fire? The disaster stunned the country and stalled NASA’s drive to the moon for a while. 
I will never forget the two shuttle disasters. The more recent one, the Columbia disintegration upon re-entering the atmosphere took place February 1, 2003. The first shuttle disaster, the tearing apart of Challenger 73 seconds after launch, took place while I was at work. 
Word spread like wildfire, and soon we all crowded around a small TV watching the replay over and over. Remember President Reagan’s words, “The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. 
“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.”
All these memories came back to me last week in Lake City, South Carolina. 
I was there to speak to the Rutledge Book Club at the Darla Moore Farm’s Tower facility. I arrived early and drove over to the Ronald McNair Memorial, which stands next to a library where I spoke August 16. 
It’s a beautiful memorial that honors Ronald Erwin McNair, an American physicist and NASA astronaut, who died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L. Ron, a native of Lake City, was the second of three boys born to Carl, a mechanic, and Pearl, a teacher. He perished along with Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik. 
“Go for throttle up.” We recall the silenced Mission Control spokesman and the twin booster contrails wandering through the atmosphere. We remember Christa McAuliffe’s bewildered parents staring into the sky, staring disaster in the face. 
The crippled crew compartment continued upward for three more miles before falling to the green-brown Atlantic 12 miles beneath them. 
It’s said that the age of space exploration’s innocence ended after Challenger due to a suspected cover-up by NASA to hide the truth – that the crew knew it had 2 and a half minutes to live.
All we can do is move on. I hope we send men and women to Mars. This country needs a mission to rally around. The early days of the race to the moon brought us all together like few things have. The quest for Mars would do much to honor our heroes who died in the exploration of space. 
It will give young Americans something to remember the rest of their lives, and you can be sure a lot of progress will result from all the technological advances.
Mars is waiting. Let’s go.

tom poland, remembering challenger, down south

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