A Year of Blogging: January 28, 2011

According to my 'official' calendar, today is Kazoo day. I don't really know much about kazoos, so I'm going to write about something more important. Today is the 25th Anniversary of the Challenger Explosion. I feel the news barely touched on it tonight. Maybe I just wasn't watching at the right time. It just doesn't seem it has gotten the coverage that it deserved. That is very sad. ABC World News said it was my generation's Pearl Harbor or JFK assassination. I think that is possibly very accurate. There are a few days that we will always remember, and the Challenger disaster is one of them. I was 9 1/2 years old when it happened. Back then, that extra half year made you so much older! I was in fourth grade. I remember that we had watched other shuttle launches in the gym/cafeteria at school. I remember our Principal, Mr. Lewin, bringing in the one TV the school had. It was maybe a 19"? That seems so small, but I'm pretty sure the 27" I have in my living room now is much bigger than what we had at school. It was on a rolling cart, and was usually kept in the library. Teachers signed it out and it was rolled down the hallway to the room as needed. When the shuttles launched, we had an assembly. Little blue chairs were lined up in the lunch room, and we sat by age. The Kindergartners and first graders sat in the front, fourth and fifth graders in the back. Yet the day of the Challenger launch, I distinctly remember we had a half day. I think it was teacher conference day. I didn't see the Challenger disaster live on television. I remember getting to our babysitter's, her name was also Amy. We all got off the bus, and ran to the house, excited to have a free afternoon. I remember Amy meeting us at the bus, and she was crying. Her face was a mix of sadness and disbelief. When we went inside, the TV was on and she explained to us what happened. If we had not had the half day, we would have been gathered in the lunch room in Stephentown. I probably would have been sitting next to Drew, my best friend. And, like so many children across the country, we would have been glued to the screen. I know my parents talked to us about what happened, but I don't remember their words. I remember everything felt numb; it was surreal. We talked about it in school. We learned more about each of the astronauts, and about Christa McAuliffe. Yet there really was no way to make sense of it. My grandparents saw it happen in person. They lived in Central Florida, and could watch the launches from their house. Even though they were about 80 miles from Cape Canaveral, they could still see the launches. The space shuttle program was big in the 1980s. It was exciting. My grandparents made sure they were outside every time a shuttle launched. They gathered with their neighbors in the cul de sac and looked to the east. And so they were there, that January morning. They saw that infamous 'Y' of the smoke. Grandma knew something had gone wrong, and Grandpa ran inside to turn on the news. It haunted them for years, and I don't think they ever went out to watch another launch. Any of my friends who wanted to be an astronaut rethought it after the Challenger. It was the first devastating event in our lives that our parents could not easily explain. I also think this may have been the start of my fear of flying. The image of that smoke trail remains frozen in our minds. A decade or so later, I found myself studying the Challenger Disaster extensively in college. You wouldn't think a Communication major would be studying the space shuttle. But the Challenger disaster is used to show students what can happen when communication breaks down. It was held up as the 'classic example' of a failure to communicate. In the years since that sad January morning, different people came forward that they suspected the O-rings could fail in cold weather. For whatever reason, this either didn't make it through the chain of command to the top, or was ignored (from what I remember studying it, this is debatable). The lessons to be learned go far beyond science. If you ever have the chance, I encourage you to visit Kennedy Space Center. My Grandparents used to take us there once a year. I know I've been since the Challenger Disaster, possibly once as a teenager. It is a terrific place. I highly recommend the Astronaut ice cream, even though now you can get it in other touristy places. Take some time to honor the adventure and spirit of those we have lost.