I was on my way back from the flightline at Embry-Riddle, Daytona. We'd been advised by ATC as to the launch time which was about 15 minutes after we got on the ground. About half way across campus, on my way to a math class, I stopped to watch the shuttle rise above the horizon. I saw the ET explode and then watched the SRBs weave across each other- it was very clear that something went real wrong.
Instantly I ditched math and ran to the UC (student center) where the nearest TV was. I kept telling myself this was an RTLS abort... very few of us, including big time space buffs like me, had been informed of the fact that RTLS could not be done during the burn of the solids. It was a dark fact that NASA simply did not talk about. Anyhow, I got to the UC and the crowd around the TV was so big that you couldn't hear a thing, so I sprinted up to the Avion newspaper office where we had a small TV going. The simple words from Mission Control that they had "...lost downlink" said it all to me. That told me instantly that the vehicle was simply gone.
Just a few missions prior I'd covered the STS61A mission from the press site. The mission carred the D1 space module and while we waited for the countdown, the word come out that Christa McAuliffe was there, and all of us in the press swarmed to meet her. When I did, I was struck by the fact that I now knew exactly why NASA had selected her. She lit up the whole room and charmed the daylights out of even the most hardened journalists. When the Challenger was ripped apart by dynamic forces that only come in the worst nightmares of aerodynamics, and Christa McAuliffe lost her life, I was angry- very angry. I was angry at the fact that this innocent person, who was not in the aviation profession, had done what most of our passengers do. She had placed her life, her trust, in those of us who were in the aviation profession, and our aviation profession had let her down. Those of us who dedicated our lives to flight know full well the risks, but those who we carry aboard our flying machines do not- so they trust us.
I knew one other fact as I stood there on that dark day, watching newscasters who could say nothing more to me. I knew that, in the end, this accident would be traced to one place for its cause- management. In fact a week of so later I wrote an op.ed. in the Avion saying exactly that. It also said that whenever the final decision as to flight safety is removed from the pilots, or in the case of spaceflight- from the engineers, and placed into the hands of management, crews WILL die. The Avion's space reporter, Jim Banke, a management major, took exception to it and wrote a contrasting opinion. Months later, we found that an engineer who had objected to the launching of the SRBs in cold weather beyond their tested envelope, was silenced as he was told to "Take off your engineer's hat, and put on your management hat." Says it all.
And yes... I'm still angry.
Instantly I ditched math and ran to the UC (student center) where the nearest TV was. I kept telling myself this was an RTLS abort... very few of us, including big time space buffs like me, had been informed of the fact that RTLS could not be done during the burn of the solids. It was a dark fact that NASA simply did not talk about. Anyhow, I got to the UC and the crowd around the TV was so big that you couldn't hear a thing, so I sprinted up to the Avion newspaper office where we had a small TV going. The simple words from Mission Control that they had "...lost downlink" said it all to me. That told me instantly that the vehicle was simply gone.
Just a few missions prior I'd covered the STS61A mission from the press site. The mission carred the D1 space module and while we waited for the countdown, the word come out that Christa McAuliffe was there, and all of us in the press swarmed to meet her. When I did, I was struck by the fact that I now knew exactly why NASA had selected her. She lit up the whole room and charmed the daylights out of even the most hardened journalists. When the Challenger was ripped apart by dynamic forces that only come in the worst nightmares of aerodynamics, and Christa McAuliffe lost her life, I was angry- very angry. I was angry at the fact that this innocent person, who was not in the aviation profession, had done what most of our passengers do. She had placed her life, her trust, in those of us who were in the aviation profession, and our aviation profession had let her down. Those of us who dedicated our lives to flight know full well the risks, but those who we carry aboard our flying machines do not- so they trust us.
I knew one other fact as I stood there on that dark day, watching newscasters who could say nothing more to me. I knew that, in the end, this accident would be traced to one place for its cause- management. In fact a week of so later I wrote an op.ed. in the Avion saying exactly that. It also said that whenever the final decision as to flight safety is removed from the pilots, or in the case of spaceflight- from the engineers, and placed into the hands of management, crews WILL die. The Avion's space reporter, Jim Banke, a management major, took exception to it and wrote a contrasting opinion. Months later, we found that an engineer who had objected to the launching of the SRBs in cold weather beyond their tested envelope, was silenced as he was told to "Take off your engineer's hat, and put on your management hat." Says it all.
And yes... I'm still angry.
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Also for me had been very hard to forget.
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