Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It's quite significant to me because it's the first disaster I experienced.
I was at infant school back then. I recall seeing the clip, of the shuttle exploding shortly after taking off, on BBC Newsround.
Another memory I have from that day is being at judo later that day. One of my fellow students asked our instructor if he had seen it. That struck me a bit back then, and absolutely more now, because it was children having an adult discussion about something tragic.
There was also a time, many, many years later - when I was sat at a table with a friend at a pub - as a documentary about the disaster was on the TV. Just looking at the crew as they waved to the camera shortly before they perished hits me then. It still does today.
Over the years, I have watched documentaries, a TV movie and read books all about that fateful mission. It's right next to 9/11 in being world events that have hauntingly fascinated me. I suppose the main reason why is because I saw them play out on TV (even though with Challenger I did not see it unfold live).
Here's the crew. The one which stands out the most is the lady astronaut in the second from the left on the back.
Her name was Christa McAuliffe. She won a place on the mission through an extensive search to take the first civilian into space. As a teacher, she would have shared lessons on board the shuttle. It should go without stating that the significance of McAuliffe being the first civilian astronaut - and a teacher to boot - meant that a lot of young children would have seen this explosion live on TV in their classrooms.
There are also the children who would have been there to view the take-off in person as well. I cannot imagine what it must have been for all those seeing something built up and then shattered before their eyes
No comments:
Post a Comment