STS-51-L

On January 28, 1986 I sat in my fourth grade class room eagerly anticipating the launch of the space shuttle Challenger for mission STS-51-L. For months the entire nation had prepared for a momentous event as Christa McAuliffe, a teacher, would become the first civilian to fly to space. We did not have tv's in our rooms as some other schools did and were unable to watch the launch live. I was jealous of so many other school children who would get to watch the launch live and even more jealous of those kids who would get a chance to talk with the shuttle crew in space.

After lunch our teacher began class with a noticeable heaviness about her. It was early afternoon before we found out the shuttle had been destroyed during take off. Our principal Mr. McWhirter came over the loud speaker and announced the tragedy. We then listened to President Reagan's address to the nation and sat in stunned silence. I would have been very sad if I had fully understood what was happening. I knew the shuttle was gone but I think I only vaguely understood the shuttle crew had perished.

In the weeks and months following the tragedy my mom cut and clipped every article she could about the Challenger's destruction. We sat in her upstairs sewing room sifting through every news paper we could find. Mom bought extra copies so she would have back ups. She said one day it would be important we saved those articles. In fifth grade my "science project" was a report on the Challenger and it's destruction. I put together a scale model and had the report sitting next to it. I didn't win any prizes, and it was typical fifth grade workmanship, but I was proud of it.

Today, after 22 years, the dream of a nation has finally come to fruition. Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's back up in 1986, safely arrived in orbit around the earth. For the next two weeks she will help with operational duties on board the space shuttle Endeavor.

NASA has not been secretive about Mrs. Morgan, though they have not promoted her flight as they did for Christa. It is undeniable Mrs. Morgan is the star of this mission though. I believe her flight into space would have been more momentous if the first private spaceflight had not been accomplished in 2004.

In President Reagan's address to the nation he said:

We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

Today we see his words fulfilled. Time, a second shuttle disaster, and the recognition of the consequences of human failure may have blunted our love of the shuttle program and the esteem it once had, but I still dream. And I'm still unbelievably jealous of the school kids that get to talk with the crew in space.

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

In memory of:

Francis "Dick" Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist