Touch the Face of God

It was on this date, January 28, 1986 that the nation was reminded that space flight is anything but routine.  We are reminded of that when we look to history.  We see not only the Challenger disaster, but the event of January 27, 1967 when a test of what we now know as Apollo 1 caused a fire in the cockpit.  That fire would kill all three astronauts.  More recently, of course, was the Columbia break-up on re-entry on February 1, 2003.  One could think that winter has not been kind to the US space program.  Although it was Apollo 8, which was launched on December 21, 1968, to  become the first spacecraft to travel beyond low-earth orbit.  Apollo 8 would also give us the famous Earth-rise photo taken on Christmas Eve.  The astronauts would also read from the book of Genesis. Yet, for some reason the Challenger loss, I believe, garnered more of the attention of the nation, and is likely more in our national consciousness and our national soul than the other two.

Earth rise photo from Apollo 8

Why does it seem to be more prevalent in our collective memory?  Perhaps it was because a civilian school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was one of the seven astronauts. She was chosen from about 11,000 applicants to be the first to leave the classroom for space.  Perhaps it was because, even though this was the tenth flight for Challenger, and the 25th overall for NASA's shuttle program, it would awake us from space flight fatigue.  Few will recall that the Columbia flight that preceded this Challenger flight carried a US Congressman from Florida.  What is amazing is that the flight prior to Challenger had launched just over two weeks earlier.   It makes the ersatz Howard Wolowitz's trip to the International Space Station seem rather ordinary.  Or, perhaps it came at a time when we as a nation had to evaluate our priorities and decide whether or not the risk is worth the reward.  The shuttle program was near its apex.  With the Columbia flight, it was known that the program was near the end of its life space.

The last crew of the Challenger

Space is often said to be the last frontier.  No wilderness on land has gone unexplored.  Although we sometimes forget about the oceans.  We point up when we recognize the refuge of God, angels, saints and our departed loved ones. Space and its amalgamation of stars and comets is associated with the heavens.  Cultural heritage and tradition has ingrained in us a reverent attitude toward space and, in particular, manned human flight.  Astronauts are thought of as heroes.  Many of the early launches were telecast and one could watch the crowds at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral crane their head back to watch the powerful sight of man moving beyond the bonds of earth.  The original seven Mercury Astronauts were said to have the "right stuff."  So when a manned space flight is lost, the nation grieves in a collective manner.  The loss of a flight is like a punch to our national stomach.  It takes us down a notch or two reminding us that we are human.  As much as we may not like to hear, we are not omnipotent.  Stuff happens. But that is what makes life interesting.  It makes life challenging.

Lift off

The space shuttle Challenger was originally scheduled to blast off on January 22, but weather forced delay.  While January 28 saw a nice blue sky, it was cold.  NASA engineers knew that some aspects of the space craft did not take well to cold weather.  They understood that critical elements, such as the simple O ring may not take the cold.  Internal calculations of risk and reward may have put the potential danger to the back of their minds.  Yet, as we know it was the O ring.  Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist and a member of the Rogers Commission (the group entrusted with finding out went wrong), would do a simple experiment and show on national TV how an O ring in the cold was less resilient, and hence not seal as well.  Some knew this after only the second Columbia flight, but the recognition of damage to the O ring in that flight failed to make it to the proper channels.

Explosion

With the first teacher set to go to space, TV sets in classrooms throughout the nation were tuned to watch the liftoff and its ascent beyond the bonds of earth.  Instead they would see an explosion and entrails of white smoke as debris fell to earth.  As the explosion occurred ground control was giving distance and speed measurements of the spacecraft.   Shortly thereafter, ground control was eerily silent for about thirty seconds and would utter the calm, but understated words:  "Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation.  Obviously a major malfunction."  An unfortunate introduction to space flight for many in those classrooms.

O Ring uses, the small ring was the main problem

President Reagan was scheduled to give his State of the Union address that evening.  He would postpone that speech.  Yet he would speak in the later afternoon, 5 pm Eastern time,  about the fate of the shuttle Challenger to a nation rattled by loss.   This speech is regarded as one of his best.  Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill after having attended a White House briefing in the morning that day (this occurred before the Challenger accident), would come away disgruntled by what the President planned to say in his State of the Union address that night.  Yet he would later comment that he had seen the worst side of Reagan and had see him at his best within a few hours time on that cold late January day.  Reagan would say it was one of the most trying days of his presidency.

Feynman doing his O ring experiment

Space flight has presented a series of human adventures by which to understand the soul of a nation.  Yet the full understanding of our national character comes from how we deal with disaster.  In this way, the national body is not unlike the personal, individual body.  Our character is set not just by the good but how we react and deal with the bad.  In his Challenger speech, Reagan hit the right themes to assuage a grieving nation.  He reminded us of why we pursue challenges, a duty to recognize those lost, and tie them to the hereafter:  “The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the brave,” he would say. He would continue that “The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.”  Reagan would then end his 648 word speech borrowing from a sonnet composed during the Second World War:  “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.”  It is our belief in the transcendent that often gives our life and our existence meaning. It is a belief in God that allows many of us to go beyond our fears and our losses.  It helps a person deal with the realities of existence.  Loss is difficult, but it makes us grow.

Patch of the last Challenger flight

 Images from Google images