Comments on: Reflections on the Challenger Disaster 25 Years Later

By: Alex Janevski

Alex Janevski — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:19:07 +0000

Like many people my age, this event and the space program, in general, played a big role in my life. My kindergarten class watched the Challenger explosion, with little understanding of what was happening. There was a big build up to the event because of McAuliffe’s presence. Our classroom had a bulletin board with her picture on it (along with the other astronauts). I feel bad for what my teacher must have felt at the moment of explosion.

But I remember being more disappointed a few weeks later when I was unable to see Halley’s Comet. I had been kept from understanding what really happened with Challenger.

A few years later I was one of a few students selected to speak to astronauts over live video feed aboard the space station. Thrilling, for me, after a few years of astronaut dreaming (my first real “I want to do this when I grow up,” and also my first time being interviewed for the local news).

When I started college as an engineer, a job with NASA was on my mind. One of my profs was an astronaut. Even after I switched to geology, I continued to think about it. I still do, and have always planned to become a pilot as soon as I can afford to. I don’t know that I’ll ever have an “in” to work at NASA, especially with funding for it declining (some of which I agree with). But I do know that I wouldn’t have followed my flight plan, toward science, to a graduate degree, if it wasn’t for the media exposure that I had as a kid.

On another note, I really enjoyed the novel, “The Time it Takes to Fall” (http://www.amazon.com/Time-Takes-Fall-Novel/dp/0743297229).

It’s set in Florida, NASA families, and really evoked the zeitgeist: economic, social, the mid-80s, shopping malls; and, maybe most importantly, a generation of girls being raised to believe that they, too, can aspire to anything. McAuliffe’s role in a ‘traditional’ female job, being ‘lucky’ to be aboard the shuttle, unfortunately seems to have overshadowed the story of Sally Ride, who just a few years prior had become the first American woman in space – also aboard Challenger.

By: Trevor J. Blank

Trevor J. Blank — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:27:01 +0000

Tom, thanks for your comment. I couldn’t agree more– it’s such a shame that “the bottom line” takes precedence over the safety of living, breathing people. We’ve seen the ramifications of such a mentality both in disasters and tragedies, and especially with recent economic woes.

My question is: how can we realistically work to change this? I wish that it could be as simple as removing the crooks and bureaucrats from their posts, but I genuinely am stuck on figuring out a solution for how to make things better. And the state of partisanship in the United States makes it clear that looking to politicians for answers is likely a bad move :\

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:00:52 +0000

There is one thing that is overlook in the 25 years that has past since the Challenger disaster. The one lesson that continues to be learned is that allowing managers that take short cuts just to expedite a project should be held accountable. It seems this past summer with BP, these lessons were never learned. The billions of dollars wasted and lives that have been sacrificed for the sake of a dollar. None of those responsible were prosecuted. Even with the countless witnesses we still do not hold those accountable to criminal prosecution.