Remembering Challenger

January 28, 1986.

I was a week away from turning 12 years old. As a sixth grader in Point Pleasant, WV, I was enjoying a snow day!

For weeks all we had talked about at school and what I saw on the news channels my parents were watching was the upcoming launch of the space shuttle Challenger. There had been many shuttle flights by this time, so they were almost becoming…commonplace. But this one would be different.

This flight was being talked about because there was going to be a civilian on this flight, specifically a teacher, Christa McAuliffe. Our teacher was planning on getting one of the TV carts and bringing it into the classroom so we could watch the launch, but the weather had other plans.

Much has been written in the 40 years since that day about what happened and why, so I won’t get into it here. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just do a quick search on “Space Shuttle Challenger.” I can remember my mom needing to go to K-Mart (I think, my memory is a little fuzzy here) and I and my sisters went with her. I plopped myself in the home entertainment section with the wall of TVs and proceeded to watch the numerous replays of that ominous, cloudy “Y in the sky.” Surely they could rescue the crew! There had to be an escape pod or something!

I remember watching the speech by President Reagan that evening. Regardless of your thoughts on the President and his legacy, that was one of the best speeches I have ever heard given by a President to a shocked and grieving nation. It went a long way to helping the nation understand that it was ok to grieve, but more importantly to this 12 year old, it provided hope for the future. The space program would go on. It was important to not let these explorer’s sacrifices be for nothing. It taught me that troubles come, failures will happen, moments of death & despair are inevitable, but how you choose to react to these occurrences reveals who you really are.

It is important to remember the heroes. It is important to keep moving forward with hope.

Plaque at KSCVC - photo by author

Recovered piece of Challenger on display at KSCVC - photo by author