Selected Articles from the
January 2001 Odyssey

Editor: Terry Hancock

Other Articles from this issue:

• Reflections on a Desert Night, by Steve Bartlett
• A Matter of Attitude, by Robert Gounley

Challenger Disaster Shaped a Generation

By Bathsheba Marcus

Reprinted by permission of The Washington Square News, from the January 4, 1996 issue.

Every generation has its defining moment, an event which unites minds and hearts in common sentiment. Such occurrences are often tragic and influence patterns of thought for years to come. Our grandparents' philosophies were shaped by the hardships of the Great Depression and a world war; our parents remember the way time stood still as John F. Kennedy was assassinated on television. In the same way, many of us will never forget the image of the Challenger shuttle as it exploded into flames, a paradox of sadness against the clear blue sky.

Group photograph of Challenger crew. NASA photograph.

It happened ten years and one week ago. In my school we did not watch the lift-off on television, but there was a certain excitement in the air as our teachers had explained to us the importance of this mission: a civilian teacher, one of our own, would be flying on the shuttle with the astronauts and conducting class from space. We expected to go home and see pictures of Christa McAuliffe and the six astronauts orbiting above the earth. My memories of school that day are vague. However, the moments following the last bell are quite clear.

A friend and I headed off to find my mom's car, thinking about the after-school snacks that awaited us in our homes. We opened the door to the back seat of the station wagon and greeted my mother. "Hey Mommy, did you watch the shuttle go up into space?'' Her eyes caught mine in the rear view mirror with a look reminiscent of the time she told me our dog had died. "The shuttle never made it up to space," she said. "It blew up and everyone is dead."

Dead? For many of us this event marked the first time we had to contemplate such concepts. My friend David, who viewed the harrowing event with the rest of his elementary school in the auditorium, said that the Challenger explosion is the first recollection he has of pondering mortality. "The entire school watched the shuttle go up in a blaze and we were all just silent, scared to recognize that the worst had happened. I remember some teachers burst into hysterics, but the kids, I'm not sure we understood the impact, the finality of the flames."

Astronauts, like presidents, are not supposed to die in freak accidents. They are the stuff which make up our dreams. As little children many of us said, "when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut." Then the Challenger exploded. For awhile it appeared that the fearlessness of a generation had been blown into bits with the shuttle. We thought the journey to space was just an adventure, like riding a roller coaster for the first time. The Challenger, at the expense of seven brave and cherished individuals, taught the next generation of explorers that there was a danger involved.

One would think such an event would scare us away from further pursuits in space but the human spirit of discovery is not so easily assuaged. When the fear subsided and the nation awoke from its mourning, it appeared that there was a new breed of astronauts who were inspired by the men and women of the Challenger mission to continue taking risks for the sake of knowledge and humankind's advancement.

Daniel S. Goldin, a NASA administrator, spoke of the bravery of the seven men and women on the Challenger, remarking that "...human beings have always taken great risks to reap great rewards." Without a doubt, greatness is invariably found in those who are fearless of the perils of the unknown. Ferdinand Magellan died on the same voyage in which he became renowned as the first man to successfully circumnavigate the globe. Joan of Arc was put to death for her masculine dress, even after her dramatic role in France's fight during the hundred years war. Amelia Earhart, after becoming the first woman to fly across the Pacific, disappeared in an attempt to fly around the world.

Those who make the history books rarely lead careful lives. If they are successful in their endeavors we stand back and admire such courage of heart, such passion of the soul. Nevertheless, those intrepid beings that do not live to accomplish their deeds are no less revered. The Challenger's flyers did not become the twenty-fifth successful space shuttle launch; Christa McAuliffe did not live to teach her high school students from space. However, their deaths were hardly in vain.

Space shuttles have been made much safer since the fateful explosion ten years ago. The booster rocket, which caused the blast by allowing hot flames to leak, has since undergone minor improvements 145 times. Numerous changes were made to other major parts of the shuttle as well, including the main engines. In 1986 the chance of a malfunction in a shuttle's trip was one in thirty; that number has now improved to one in two hundred.

The aftermath of the explosion gave birth to a network of Challenger Space Education Centers. These programs are sponsored by the families of the astronauts who hope the attempts at discovery made by their loved ones will inspire further exploration of space. Similarly, there is the Ronald McNair Foundation, named after one of the Challenger's astronauts, a non-profit organization which encourages students to endeavor to make scientific inquiries.

Ronald McNair's brother, Carl, said of those who died in the explosion, "The people that live are the people in the hearts and minds of others. The best of the best was in that shuttle. Ten years later, we're still telling their stories. We still remember. And they still live on." There is a new generation of explorers who will never forget the day the Challenger took off and didn't come back. We will forever remember the day we learned one of our first lessons of adventure, risk and death. The flames of the shuttle still burn deeply within our hearts.

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