(Editor's note: Below is the column I wrote about seeing a Space Shuttle Launch back in 1982, the morning the Challenger was lost at launch and then the day that the Columbia was lost as it was attempting reentry. It was 33 years ago that the Challenger was lost. This column was originally written in February of 2003)
Patch for STS-3 Shuttle Mission
I grew up a child of the space age. I remember some of the later Mercury flights, all the Gemini flights and of course the Apollo missions.
Back in the days before cable TV gave us so many channels, whenever there was a launch, all the major networks abandoned regular programming and everybody watched the launches and space walks, moon landings and splashdowns. As a youngster, I always wanted to see a launch at Cape Kennedy, but it never worked out until much later.
In the Spring of 1982 I was in central Florida working with a TV station there and on a lark, I called NASA to see about getting into the scheduled Shuttle launch of STS-3. This was only the third time for the Shuttle Columbia to go into space and very early in the program. With a letter from the TV station in hand, my younger brother and I managed to get Press credentials and got to get in the cape and down by the great big clock to watch the launch with the rest of the press corp.
It was a good time for NASA and they were trying to show that the shuttle was capable of flying into space frequently and safely. I remember one member of the press corps walking around the Press/VIP area wearing a T-Shirt that said “Ho hum, just another shuttle launch.”
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The launch was due around 8:30 AM or so and we had to leave early in the morning to get to Cape Kennedy in time. As was fairly common, the countdown was stopped with about 20 minutes left and stayed there for a while some technical problem was worked out. For a while, it looked like there might not be a launch that day at all. As we waited, we were able to collect a lot of NASA information on the shuttle and the particular mission such as orbit maps and technical reports.
There was a continuation of the countdown after a 2-hour delay and the launch seemed to be back on. There was a second shorter pause in the countdown, but finally around 11 AM, the clock started again with only 2 minutes left to liftoff and as they moved to the critical stage of the launch process.
Of course, I had watched a lot of the earlier launches on TV and I thought I knew what to expect. I had my long telephoto lens ready on my still camera and my brother handled the video camera for the TV station. As the clock ticked down to zero, it was eerily quiet for the first few seconds and I thought something was wrong. But I could see the shuttle starting to rise. I’d forgotten we were still over three miles from the launch pad and it takes sound a bit longer to travel than light. Soon the roar started as the shuttle cleared the gantry and it got louder and louder.
Soon, the sound became so loud and intense that I could actually feel it. It was a pulsing sound so loud and powerful, it was actually pounding quite loudly in my chest! I continued to shoot photos as the spacecraft rose in to the bright sky following the long plume of smoke until the ship was out of sight.
It was an amazing experience and one I will never forget. As the mission progressed, I kept up with it and I thought I might even get to see the Shuttle land as weather was questionable at the landing site in California and the secondary landing site was Cape Kennedy. Well, the weather cleared and the landing took place as originally planned so I didn’t get to use my press badge to get back into the cape.
It was almost 4 years later that I was doing news at a Crossville radio station and had just returned from the post office and paused to check the AP wire machine to read the end of a story that seemed to have the tenses all wrong. It said that Christa Mcauliffe “would have been” the first teacher in space. It took a minute to sink in and then I pulled the copy back to the top of the story and read the terrible news about the Challenger. I was quite shaken but immediately got on the air to let listeners know what had happened. The rest of that terrible day is a blur, but I caught myself frequently reflecting back on my visit to see the launch of Columbia.
All those same feelings came flooding back again Saturday morning about 8:30 AM when the radio in the car reported the news about the Columbia’s loss during reentry. What was a terrible shock to the country and the world, was an earth shattering tragedy to the family and friends of the astronauts. I hope somehow they know the loved one’s deaths were not in vain and their life’s energy is pounding in the chest of all who know how important the space program is to the future.
