On this, the 20th Anniversary of the Challenger accident, former NASA mission control operator and NBC News analyst James Oberg attempt to lay to rest 7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster.
I remember the day of the tragic event. I was in high school history class, Mrs. Osborne's class (a true southern belle if there ever was one). The guy with the reputation of being the class clown came in to class announcing that the Challenger has exploded. Since it was Billy Heuther, our response was typical, "Yeah, sure Billy. That is not even funny." It took an actual announcement from the principal for us to believe the truth of the matter.
The national reaction was expected, a sense of loss, particularly since teacher Christa McAuliffe was one of the astronauts lost in the tragedy. Yet at the same time, I remember thinking, "I hope this doesn't end our exploration of space."
Was the death of the astronauts tragic? Yes. But there is also hope. We as a people and as a race are not very good at sitting still. Space exploration provides a wonderful mechanism for fueling the human spirit. Look at what we accomlished in teh 60's with the challenge to land on the moon. We must honor the past and the loss of the Challenger crew, but we cannot doubt the our committment.
By the way, a little known story, or at least one that seems lost, is that French musician Jean-Michel Jarre had arranged with Astronaut Ron McNair to record a saxophone track on the Challenger mission to be included in Jarre's 1986 CD, Rendez-vous. The track, now know as Last Rendez-vous (Ron's Piece) was recorded by another artist, but had the mission proceeded as planned, McNair's track would have been the first recorded music for sale, recorded in space.
Last Rendez-vous is haunting piece. I will try to spend some time looking for a recording of it on-line.
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