Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

Today marks the 20^th anniversary of what has become to be known as the Challenger Disaster. I remember that day well. I had gone to work at Manufacturers National Bank of Detroits office building in Southfield, Michigan. I worked from there and it was about 4 miles from home. I decided that day to come home and watch the launch of the shuttle as this flight was including the first flight of a non-astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, the teacher in space.

I wanted so bad to be in that shuttle. It has been my dream since I was a youngster, watching the astronauts launched into space aboard rockets, to be an astronaut. As President Reagan later said in their eulogy, I wanted to slip the surly bonds of earth and fly amidst the stars. I still do. I have wanted to face that danger and do something new, different, and exciting.

I sat in front of my TV set that day, watching as the shuttle lifted off into a clear Florida sky. I watched as it accelerated to maximum dynamic stress and pressure, and then shortly, I watched as the vehicle, the space shuttle, was consumed in a ball of fire. I watched the two solid rocket boosters accelerate away from the vehicle. I had used the new technology of VCR’s to record this event, and I kept playing it over and over again. I was stunned, not knowing what to believe or do. I listened as the voice of mission control hoped to announce that they had sighted the astronauts, and that they were somehow safe. That was not to be.

I finally returned to work, with the tape I had made and showed my co-workers what had happened. I remember being dazed and stunned. I sat thinking most of the day that I had just watched, on live national TV, 7 people die in front of my eyes. I was devastated. The nation mourned and I particularly mourned, because I had wanted to be with them. I went to bed that night thinking, dreaming, and reliving this experience again, and again, and again.

Yet, the next day, I decided if they wanted volunteers to go on the shuttle next week, I would be in line, ready and willing to go. You see, man must explore. Man must overcome setbacks. We must pick ourselves up when we fall down. That is what is so sad about this nation now, and what has subsequently happened with the Columbia. We have allowed ourselves to let the risk overshadow the benefits. Yes, we will have more space disasters, that is the nature of the beast. But we must press forward, exploring. I am an explorer, and I want to be there. Even now, as I grow older, I have that fire in the pit of my stomach. I would go if they let me.