TO TOUCH THE FACE OF GOD: Thirty years ago today, I was sitting in my eighth grade Unified Math class when the news came in. The Challenger had exploded, and all on board were dead.** To many of us, it was our Kennedy Assassination, our generation-defining-where-were-you-when until 9/11, when faith in our institutions, in science, in progress, got knocked around quite a bit. (Among my peers, the immediate speculation was that Arafat
had to be behind some kind of bombing.)
Today,
we remember the fallen, and I, at least, hope to see our non-terrestrial ambitions rise again.
Commander Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee
Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
S. Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist (and teacher)
Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist
** As we've previously discussed,
there had also been talks about Big Bird joining the mission.
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