credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) (01/30/86)
Please allow a few remarks from someone who hasn't been a reader of net.space or net.columbia until the recent disaster, but who has some thoughts on what has been being posted here. First, we can all accept that it *was* a disaster, especially for the families and friends of those killed, and for those whose work or private enthusiasm involved them closely with the Shuttle program. (I carefully don't use the overworked word "tragedy"; having been educated in the field of literature, I know that it's a technical word meaning a disaster which results from a character flaw, and I do not want to make any such judgement about what happend to Challenger and its astronauts.) Second, we can all see that it poses a threat to the future of the space program, but that there is no logical reason for it to do so. As various people including John Glenn have been saying, there was almost bound to be a serious accident sooner or later, just as in aviation or any other field of effort, and if the space program made sense on Monday, it still makes sense today. Third, I hope we can all see that it is *not* a "national tragedy comparable to the death of John F. Kennedy", as various observers have been making it. (I say "national" even though I happen to be in Canada -- it's hard to avoid American culture through the media here.) It was a sad accident; there are lots of sad accidents. A few weeks ago 153 American soldiers died in a much dumber accident, when a transport plane crashed; there wasn't a fraction of this kind of excitement. Fourth, and most controversially, I hope we can all see that it's a fallacy to say "Because of this incident, the exploration of space must go on." See point 2 above! The incident is no more a reason for exploring space than it is for abandoning space. Those of us who have harboured serious suspicions about the desirability of space colonization, still have our doubts, but this accident isn't the reason, and explaining it away (quite correctly) as a sooner-or-later-predictable accident still leaves our doubts. (Which is not to say that some people who might individually have wanted to travel in space, now have lost their enthusiasm. That's understandable; lots of people have lost their willingness to fly in conventional aircraft, as they've seen or heard of crashes. It may be desirable for them to get therapy for their phobia, but that's a quite different issue from their opinions about the desirability of *other* people flying if they want to.) Finally, let's all agree that the media hoopla surrounding the tears of the families and the nation has been somewhat tasteless, but that it's an inevitable result of the way the Shuttle has been treated s a source of national glory. Celebrate the successes as if they were national triumphs, and you're pretty well bound to mourn the failures as if they were national disasters. Thank you for listening. Chris
barb@oliven.UUCP (Barbara Jernigan) (02/04/86)
Well, someone has gone and done it. I've tried to be 'good' for nearly a week, but I've never been very good at resisting impulse. WARNING, the following is *not* scientific, but more sentimental -- it probably doesn't even belong here, but I didn't know where else to put it -- and the question was asked. I wanted to write poetry, but prose came instead -- and there's no questioning the Muse. Those of you *not* interested in a rather train-of-thought musing on the impact of Challenger's demise, don't bore yourself further. The rest of you, well, thanks for listening -- maybe this will lay my own grief to rest. By way of introduction (and the posting that sparked this past resisting), Chris, the 'outsider' said: > Third, I hope we can all see that it is *not* a "national tragedy > comparable to the death of John F. Kennedy", as various observers > have been making it. [Perhaps not, but the reaction was similar -- and I discuss this later.] > ...It was a sad accident; there are lots of sad accidents. A > few weeks ago 153 American soldiers died in a much dumber accident, > when a transport plane crashed; there wasn't a fraction of this kind > of excitement. > Finally, let's all agree that the media hoopla surrounding the tears > of the families and the nation has been somewhat tasteless, but that > it's an inevitable result of the way the Shuttle has been treated s > a source of national glory. Celebrate the successes as if they were > national triumphs, and you're pretty well bound to mourn the failures > as if they were national disasters. A friend of mine voiced similar doubts -- it is coincidence that her name is also Barbara. > i have a question for you and i don't want you to think i am > a cold, heartless beast. how is the current "tragedy" any > different (more tragic?) than any other disaster - plane crash, > train crash, earthquake, bombing, etc.? i am having a real > hard time with this. yes, it is very sad, but people die in > disasters all the time and the entire nation does not go into > shock. i guess it seems to me that the whole thing is getting > blown out of proportion (and i think halting space flights is > silly too). I don't know how to answer your question, Barbara. God knows I've been thinking about it a lot -- and not just because you asked it. I think a lot of the furor has to do with the fact that the shuttle exploded live, on t.v., with a lot of folks looking on. So, one, it's impact is greater because people actually *saw* the deaths. Two. The space program *is* a public event, a symbol of American know-how and the frontier-conquering spirit. American Science and Engineering over All. Challenger's demise puts a hole in our impregnable armor. More so, though building on that theme, the Space Program stands for an idea -- a dream. Who has not looked at the stars and heard their Whispering Call? (Yeh, probably one or two earth-trogs . . . :-) Seriously though, to quote a minister in Concord, N.H., "A part of each and every one of us boarded that shuttle, so it is only natural that we should feel a part of us is lost. . . ." It is our dream that blew up with the Challenger -- the pain is *personal*. Yes, there are much more tragic accidents every day. But these are things we take as part of life -- greatly because they are so common. But the Shuttle was supposed to lift beyond all that -- to be above to the earthly realities of life and death, as it was above the pull of earthly gravity. The dream, the idea, is shattered. "It is the crushing of a dream that makes us cry . . . of a wish that makes us hopeless," Mary Watkins says in her book *Waking Dreams*. Dreams are supposed to be free from the limitations of life -- on Tuesday we were graphically shown the Reality. A Reality that many of us saw coming. Russ and I were talking the day before about how lucky the Space Program has been -- mostly in terms of NASA's ultra-conservatism in allowing launches. (Giving the public the mis-idea that the Shuttles are about as smooth running as the Milenium Falcon -- or Dr. Who's TARDIS. The white armor does have tarnish, after all.) I've been party to many other like conversations -- as Yeager said, ". . .there *are* going to be accidents." Every person on the Challenger knew and accepted the risks. Dick Scobey, the commander of the mission, was quoted as saying there *was* going to be an accident -- the shuttles are far too complex and there are too many volatiles -- he only prayed that, when the accident came, it didn't ring the death knell for the program. That's another fear for many of us. That the Space Program will die with the Challenger. It seems, three days later, we have reason for cautious optimism -- but will the government and press support continue? "You have to risk something to gain something, and I'm willing to take that risk," Dick Scobey said. And the first thing that his widow said to the Vice President was "Don't let this destroy the space program." Many people have likened their feelings about the Challenger with those of Kennedy's assassination. Again, it was the destruction of a dream, Camelot, and the harshest lesson that what we *assumed* was impregnable, unwoundable, was oh, so mortal. The death of the Challenger Seven is *not* more tragic than the deaths involved with other accidents. But, as a CBS broadcast said, "It was a death in the family." For many of us the pain is personal -- unlike those other events. Whether or not this is *right*, I cannot say -- but it *is*. ============= OK, that's the 'thought out version' for my immediate reaction *that* day -- which is probably more honest . . . January 28, 1986 -- 2:37 pm This morning at roughly 8:30 PST, 1:15 minutes into Launch, the space shuttle Challenger exploded. All seven crewmen were, no doubt, killed instantly. I've been watching the tube most of today -- thank Olivetti for a lunch time convenience-toy. My tears fall, I am numb -- all else seems so meaningless in the face of this. Work continues. -- It must. Yest my mind must wonder at what the heart insists. Why can I be relatively unaffected at the daily deaths of thousands -- yet seven causes me such grief? Because they were not so much as seven people, but seven standard bearers of our hopes & dreams. *My* hopes and dreams. [3:56 pm] Their flight was my flight, and their deaths make me fear for the death of the dream. I cannot tell you why I *know* the space program is important. I mutter about eggs in one basket and technological advances, but my *knowing* lies beneath the surface of such rational explanations. I have heard the siren song of the stars. I long to leap into their embrace, my soul is pulled upward. To soar among the stars as an eagle among the clouds. And I am the explorer -- again, as Kipling writes so much better than I, a Call. I *must* heed -- or forever shut my soul's ears. And in that deafness, a warning whispers, lies Death. But real death has come most catastrophically today. My soul would fain write a lay . . . I wait for the words. My grief must set a while, to flow beyond the numbness through the tears, which fall intermittently, to the well of words. President Reagan spoke of touching the Face of God. Those seven heros knew the risks, flying into them to reach beyond, to grasp like a child for a high shelf, where lies the treasure -- the future, the dream. Every one of them voiced the knowledge that humankind's future *depends* on the space program -- and they were all hopeful and proud of their part in shaping that future. Today they gave their lives. What I do here and now seems so small, so thriced inconsequential in the face of today's events. How can life measure with the dream? And the dream has met with a fireball. Can it survive? I pray so, with all my heart. I grasp for hope when the President, Tip O'Neal, and CBS (who probably has the most effect) speak support. It remains to be seen -- only time. . . . Please, God, rest the souls of those seven brave men and women. Comfort their families. And protect, if it be Thy will, the future of our space program, of our dreams, of our future. Perhaps we are Promethius, reaching for Fire. Our hands are burned -- but I pray we aren't consumed. (Wounded, but not crippled.) Now I'm going to go home, I cannot concentrate here. God, our future is at stake, I fear -- Thy will be done. Amen. ----- "For America, it was a death in the family." CBS Broadcast, 7:20 p.m. "A part of each and every one of us boarded that shuttle, so it is only natural that we should feel a part of us is lost. . . ." Minister, Concord N.H. "You have to risk something to gain something, and I'm willing to take that risk." Challenger Commander Dick Scobey "May your future be only limited by your dreams." Christa McAuliffe ". . . gone; but theirs were lives that mattered." quoted by Dan Rather CBS Special Report ---------- To those who made it this far -- thank you for your patience. I know I'm a sentimental fool and this probably wasn't the place -- but it's my grasp at a memorial. I want to *do* something -- why, I cannot say -- just like those of us who want to rename the group. It is not a dwelling upon the death -- but our need to make a memorial of our own, a personal tribute. It may not make logical sense, but it IS. I thank you again -- May *our* future be only limited by *our* dreams -- and, if you're anything like me, between us, we can dream quite a lot. Barb
cindy@ada-uts.UUCP (02/06/86)
Barbara, that was beautiful. Thank-you for sharing your feelings
with us.
Cindy Baehr
NET: {harpo, allegro, bellcore, ihnp4}!inmet!ada-uts!cindy
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