Yahoo! News asked its readers and contributors to share their memories of the space shuttle program as it nears its end in July. Below is a story from a contributor.
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When it was announced that the space shuttle program was going to be retired, I was disappointed, but I knew it only the end of a program and not space exploration. The shuttle program planning began in 1968, but a functional design named Enterprise, thanks to Star Trek fans, wasn't tested until Sept. 17, 1976.
While the fully functional Columbia was delivered in 1979, it didn't launch until April 12, 1981, (the 20-year anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight) with the minimal crew of two. Eventually, full crews would consist of seven people. Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis were delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in summer 1982, late fall 1983, and spring 1985, respectively. After Challenger was destroyed in 1986, Endeavour was built to replace her.
Of 135 space shuttle flights, only two ended with the deaths of astronauts. On Jan. 28, 1986, the Challenger shuttle was launched even though the temperature was the coldest for a launch ever. Likewise, the crew received special attention when it was announced that a civilian, a school teacher named Christa McAuliffe, would be part of the crew.
After the launch, Challenger started to break apart and burn up 73 seconds after launch at an altitude of 46,000 feet, and the crew died when the remains of the shuttle crashed into the ocean. After an investigation, a faulty O-ring that shrank and leaked under cold compression was found to be the cause of the disaster, but another disaster would occur in 2003.
On Feb. 1, 2003, while preparing to land, the heat shielding in the left wing of the Columbia failed from damage sustained at take off. The resulting heat from re-entry destroyed the shuttle, and witnesses reported hearing a loud boom.
At the time, I was in Minnesota, but I watched the coverage closely. Yet, the coverage of the Columbia disaster was a limited event. News channels like CNN covered it for the day, and showed images of the shuttle ablaze. I felt terrible for the incredible astronauts who died on that shuttle and their families, but I gained a new respect for them as well. Risking their lives for the advancement of the human race was a risk worth taking. Even as pieces of the ship fell to Earth, I realized that they lived a life more exciting than almost every other human being, but this tragedy also makes it clear that we need to keep exploring space with humans.
Hopefully, humans will journey to the moon again in the near future and even to Mars. Someday, we will number too many to continue living on this planet, and we have a natural affinity to explore. Human space exploration will not end, but our progress may be slowed if NASA remains underfunded.
