Forty years ago, it only took 73 seconds for a historic achievement to become a historic tragedy.
On Jan. 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded a little more than a minute after liftoff and 46,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
All seven crew members died. These included pilot Michael J. Smith, commander Francis R. ‘Dick’ Scobee, mission specialist Ronald E. McNair, mission specialist Ellison Onizuka, payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis, mission specialist Judith A. Resnik, and payload specialist S. Christa McAuliffe.
McAuliffe was going to be the first regular U.S. citizen to travel to space.
A 37-year-old high school social studies teacher and mother of two from New Hampshire, she beat more than 11,000 other applicants for a coveted seat in Challenger as part of NASA’s new “Teacher in Space Project” that President Ronald Reagan announced in August 1984. It was part of NASA’s Space Flight Participant Program, an education and outreach initiative.
According to Erin Blakemore, writing for the History Channel website, “Sesame Street” star Big Bird was considered for the spot, but “the puppet’s 8-foot-2 stance — a size that would have taken up a significant amount of shuttle real estate” — likely prevented the feathery celebrity from earning a seat and scarring generations of children more when the shuttle burst into flames.
Challenger lifted off at 11:38 a.m. from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Thousands of people, including school children, watched from the ground below, and millions more watched it live on television.
The nation became witnesses to the tragedy, the first fatal accident involving an in-flight American spacecraft.
Though it seemed like the disaster happened so quickly that the astronauts wouldn’t have been aware or suffered, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
According to the New York Times reporting from July 29, 1986, “the last recorded communication by any of the astronauts was the comment ‘uh oh,’ made by the pilot, Michael J. Smith, 73 seconds after launching, just after the shuttle lurched and before it broke up in flames. NASA also disclosed that at least three of the seven individual emergency breathing supplies on the shuttle had been manually activated, indicating that the astronauts were struggling to survive in the spacecraft’s final moments. There were indications that one of the packs could not have been turned on by the person using it, and that one of his companions turned it on for him.”
Challenger burst apart due to rubber O-rings in the shuttle’s right solid rocket booster. The cold temperatures in Florida before the launch caused the rubber to become brittle, which failed when the hot gases hit it during liftoff. This caused the tragic explosion of the external fuel tank.
Other accidents and disasters have occurred in spaceflight history. For example, on Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during its return to Earth. The seven astronauts on board were killed.
Still, Challenger remains an important event in history. Besides being the first fatal disaster of a spacecraft in flight, a civilian educator died. The country mourned, and NASA adjusted its processes.
Those who died in Challenger and in other space disasters are heroes. They paid the ultimate price for future space exploration, and society owes them a debt of gratitude for paving the way for scientific achievement. Current astronauts stand on their shoulders, the shoulders of giants. If it weren’t for them and others who came before, NASA wouldn’t be preparing to return to the moon as part of the Artemis campaign, which will provide insight into how humans can live and work on another planet as the space organization works toward a human mission to Mars.
So take a moment on Jan. 28 to remember Challenger, and make sure the memories of those brave souls who perished continue to live on in our collective consciousness.
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is a native of Canton, a resident of McPherson County, and a media researcher and educator. He can be contacted with questions or comments via his website at www.toddvogts.com.
