Look to the Stars and Dream

Growing up in Florida the space program was huge. Almost every shuttle launch was a nice break from class, families would routinely make treks to Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, and every kid wanted to go to Space Camp. We lived less than five hours south of the Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting we could see the shuttle launch just about every time. The night launches were the best with the nice orange tint to the smoke behind the shuttle. I even got to see two launches in Cocoa Beach, one of them on the base itself, talk about loud. I still remember actually seeing the shock waves coming towards us over the water, incredible. Just like most of my friends I just loved the Space Shuttle and the space program, hell everyone in Florida did not just the children. The Space Shuttle program was symbol of pride for people in Florida.

January 28, 1986 was bitter cold in south Florida, I mean really cold. All of the fourth graders at Jerry Thomas Elementary in 1986 were in portable classrooms, basically a mobile home for schools. Jerry Thomas was full of 'portables', in fact most of the schools in Palm Beach County were full of 'portables'. The county was just growing too fast and the State was dumb but that is another blog entry for a different day. None of the 'portables' had heat, why would they, they were being installed in south Florida for crying out loud. When heat was needed space heaters usually worked but the temperature was in the mid to low 30's. So not really bitter cold now that I don't live there but really cold when most children don't own winter coats. Space heaters couldn't keep the rooms warm enough so all of the 'portable' classes were in the library. Monday was pretty laid back, the teachers were having trouble keeping everyone behaving with multiple classes in the same room. Tuesday was different, Tuesday was a shuttle launch.

For the better part of the morning the teachers were explaining that because of the cold we were not going to go outside for the launch. It was standard operating procedure that we go outside, we just had to go outside, what fun is watching it on TV if we can actually see it live. This was even a more important launch, a teacher was going into space. Because Chirsta McAuliffe was going into space it was even a bigger deal. Teachers had planned multiple lessons and activities based around space and the Space Shuttle. The teachers were making it a big deal and us kids always made it a big deal, how could they not let us go outside.

About 12 seconds before liftoff one of the classes teachers allowed them to go outside and watch it. Once one group of 30 screaming 9 and 10 year olds runs out the door it isn't long before the other 100 or so follow. Mrs. Golden allowed us to go outside with about 6 or 7 seconds left before liftoff. It took about 20 seconds after liftoff before we could see it. Just about the entire school was standing outside looking for it. Probably every school on the east coast of Florida was outside looking for it. This wasn't the first time we'd been outside to watch a launch, we knew where to look, about how long it took before we could see it, and how long to stay outside before the teachers got upset. We usually waited until the solid rocket boosters separated from the Shuttle. I guess that was about two minutes or so from when we could see it on the horizon. How long something takes isn't a skill that 9 year olds possess. The boosters separated much sooner than we were expecting, much sooner. There was something else different, there was only two trails not three like there normally was.

Everyone knows the rest of the story, 73 seconds after liftoff the Shuttle Challenger exploded and all seven members of her crew died. We knew something was different but we didn't think anything was wrong. When we returned to library the TV's were off, which was very odd. There were about four TVs on the live coverage when we left between the six or so classes in the library. A few of the teachers remained inside and only student remained inside. They had watched the whole thing happen with commentary in the 3 or so minutes we were outside. They decided it was best to explain what happened first and then let us the countless replays on TV. Lamont was the student who remained inside, he was telling us that it blew up. None of believed him, that wasn't possible. Plus Lamont didn't believe people should fly or better his parents didn't believe people should fly. He never went to watch the shuttle launch and even bad mouthed everyone's favorite 1986 movie, Top Gun. "If God had meant for us to fly He would have given us wings." That phrase was repeated over and over again that week.

Once the teachers got us all sat down they explained what happened. We then spent the entire week watching the replay over and over again, watching the live coverage, listening to Peter Jennings and the experts explain the tragedy. We got to listen to President Reagan's speech at the memorial service. We had to write reports on the space program and the tragedy. Lamont's paper was about how it was good this happened and it will show people not to try and fly again.

I remember just about every part of that week just like it was yesterday. The space program still means a lot to me, I still follow stories about it whenever I can. I still look at the stars from time to time and dream. For me however it really isn't about the stars, it is more about the fact that we can send someone to space, as a kid I thought that was amazing. As an adult I probably now think it is even more amazing.