I’ve heard a lot of people say, “I remember exactly where I was”. I don’t. I had to have been at home, but I don’t remember being there. I do remember what I saw and saying aloud to nobody but myself, “What just happened?” I think that’s how everybody felt, including those who were suppose to know what just happened.
30 years ago, January 28, at 11:39 a.m. EST people around the world all said the same thing, “What just happened?” With seconds ticking into minutes, one by one reality washed over us. Challenger had just exploded. It was not the first space exploration disaster and it wouldn’t be the last, but the loss of those seven lives…we all remember.
I have always been in awe of astronauts. Who hasn’t? Being an astronaut is the brass ring of all job titles, affording you a swagger beyond Maverick in Top Gun. It’s awesome! I would love to be an astronaut, sort of, if it didn’t involve hurtling through space at 18,000 miles per hour on the back of two rocket boosters and a solid fuel tank that sounds dangerous from the get-go, because it is! I have to take Dramamine to board an airliner! Outer space may be a step or two beyond my comfort level.
I spent five years chasing the shuttle. “Scrub”, “Scrub”, “Scrub”. I hate that word! I slept on the floor of Ben’s (son) dorm room for a week in hopes of getting to see the launch of Atlantis, only to have it all end in “launch scrubbed”! Once Mariah (daughter) and I were halfway to Cape Canaveral when it was announced on the radio, “shuttle launch is scrubbed for today”! In 2011 Mariah, Dusty (son-in-law), and I sat for five hours at Space View Park in Titusville, with what seemed like a million other people when word came, “launch scrubbed”! Uncle!!! I get it! It’s not meant to be! Kim (husband) would be disappointed for me, but he would be happier to keep what was left of our savings intact for a rainy day, not another launch day! At that time we were still living in Colorado, so my mission was getting to be an expensive one.
July 8, 2011 was to be the last launch of the space shuttle…ever! The end of an era! I decided to skip it. I had already made too many trips to capture this elusive bird. If it happened, I would watch it on television, but Ben and Mariah protested! “You can’t! You want it too badly! It’s important to you! You’ll be forever disappointed if you don’t try!” So, one last time I boarded a plane to Florida, to try. This time was to be “the” time. I saw it! I felt it! There are no words big enough. I shared the experience with Mariah. She couldn’t have cared less about the space program or the shuttle launch, but she knew it meant the world to me. I stood there beaming, with tears running down my face, watching Atlantis disappear out of sight, and then marveled at the rumble that followed long after she had escaped. Mariah hugged me tight. Her face was beaming too! It’s been almost six years. My eyes still overflow and my throat tightens just thinking about it.
Ben, while working for Signature Flight Support, was awarded the opportunity of a lifetime. On April 19th, 2012, the day before his 26th birthday, he towed the space shuttle Discovery nose to nose with the Enterprise at the Udvar-Hazy, Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, while former Discovery commanders walked alongside. When he was interviewed about the experience he got the same choked up throat and brim filled eyes that I have. He was to be a part of taking Discovery home; NASA’s workhorse, the oldest and most traveled shuttle, an icon that had flown 39 missions, to look closely upon her skin and see the battle scars of space…what an experience, what an honor.
On February 1, 2003 at 9:12 a.m., 17 years after Challenger, almost to the day and time, our nation would lose Columbia and seven more astronauts. The nation mourned and I believe we still do, but we honor those who have gone before by going again, each time a little farther. Astronauts eagerly await the completion of Orion. The next manned spacecraft. Why? For science? For discovery? Why for the adventure, of course! To go out there. Through them, I get to go too.
I doubt I will ever forget where I was and what I was doing when I watched the Challenger distruct. It is a picture burned into my memory.
I was on the phone with Steve (who was at work at Kroeger’s) when the Challenger exploded. I remember the commentary about who might possibly have survived, and thinking that there was no way that anyone could have.
Nice memorial, Sheri.
Thank you. Glad you liked it. Thanks for sharing your memory.