Part of my daily routine consists of checking historical sites for important events that happened this day in history, most often I check for scientific landmarks of some import. Most days I find some interesting tidbit I’d never known about- the first heterotopic heart transplant, Voyager II reaching the outer solar system, or the cloning of extinct species, but this week so far has had a distinct theme, the tragic cost of space exploration.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire that killed all three astronauts inside the capsule in 1967, today is the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion which killed seven. Challenger broke up over the Atlantic 73 seconds after launch at 11:38 Easter time on January 28, 1986. An O-ring in the right solid rocket booster failed leading to catastrophic structural failure. The failure of the rocket booster ring was due in part to the unusually low temperatures the morning of the launch, it resulted in a 32 month halt of shuttle activities and investigations into the process surrounding launches at NASA.
Moving an object off the surface of the planet is inherently risky, it essentially involves strapping a relatively small container to a controlled explosion. Surely the men and women involved in space exploration know the risks, that doesn’t make it any less tragic. It highlights the sacrifices they make to push the boundaries of human exploration.
Space exploration already suffers from a perception of non-necessity. Many believe it is a waste of money to send human beings into space. Putting aside the fact that dollar for dollar, space exploration is one of the most lucrative industries we have, creating spin off technologies that boost the economy, exploration alone is reason enough.
There are many things that make us human, many traits that differentiate us from every other species who’ve trudged out of the evolutionary slime beside us, not the least of which is our ability to look to the horizon, wonder what’s on the other side, and find a way to get there, that’s what this is really about.
Sometimes what we find on the other side of the horizon is dangerous, sometimes it changes the way we live our lives, and sometimes those brave explorers don’t come home. This story of our time in space is riddled with these stories, Apollo 1, Apollo 13, Challenger, Columbia… yet even still, being an astronaut remains at the top of the list of awesome jobs I wish I had. Why is that? It’s because the risks aren’t foolhardy, they aren’t reckless, they are measured and recognized and at the end of the day, to quote some movie starring Emile Hirsch, we all know that the juice is worth the squeeze.
So today we remember those brave few we’ve lost so that we could collectively touch the stars.
Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander
Michael J. Smith – Pilot
Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 1
Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 2
Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3
Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 1, Teacher in space
Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 2