Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1986, Page 20

Description:	life.January 28,1986 is aday that Americans willnot soon forget. On thatday, the second fatalaccident in over 25 yearsof American space traveloccurred. 73 secondsafter take-off, the SpaceShuttle Challengerexploded nine milesabove the earth andclaimed the lives ofseven astronauts.The crew includedChrista McAuliffe, a highschool teacher fromConcord, NewHampshire. She hadbeen chosen fromthousands of applicantsto be the first civilianpassenger aboard theshuttle. The other crewmembers were,Commander DickScobee, Pilot MichaelSmith, electricianengineers Judith Resnikand Gregory Jarvis,physicist Ronald McNair,and aerospace engineerEllison Onizuka.Investigations into thecause of the disasterraised many seriousquestions for NASA toanswer. It seemed thatNASA had warned longago about the reliabilityof crucial O rings inthe shuttles solid rocketboosters. Picturesreleased after this newscame out revealed a puffof black smokeapparently from anexplosion on the rocketbooster. A factor thatcould have aided in themalfunction was theweather. Even though20 Mini MagazineA successful liftoff of thespace shuttle Challenger fromApril 1985. Photo courtesy ofNASA.the sky was clear andsunny, the temperaturethe day of the launchwas only 38° F. NASA,with the knowledge thatthe O rings lose muchof their resiliency under50° F., decided to goahead with the longdelayed launch. To theregret of everyone, theback up rings that shouldhave held if the mainrings failed did not hold.NASA had hoped tolaunch 24 shuttle flightsa year by 1988; but theeffect of the disaster onthe U.S. space programhas been tremendous.The shuttle program hasbeen grounded for atleast a year, shuttlelaunches of the Jupiterprobe Galileo and solarprobe Ulysees have beenput off for more than ayear. Most importantly,the integrity of NASA hasbeen harshly questionedand a full recovery of itsprogram will requireNASA proving itselfworthy of taxpayersmoney. A new NASAhas got to come out ofthis mess, not only a newsolid rocket booster,said one member of thepresidential commissionon the Challengerinvestigation.On January 25President Reaganpresided over a memorialservice for the lost crew.Then in the biggestunderwater search everconducted, theChallengers crewcompartment was raisedfrom the bottom of theAtlantic Ocean. Thefamilies of the crew thenarranged private funeralsfor each crew member.An episode in Americanhistory, although neverto be forgotten, wasallowed to rest.^M challenge to altGetting involved in theaffairs of your owncountry is an importantresponsibility of being acitizen. This is the viewthat junior Jim Foutzholds. When hewitnessed the Challengerdisaster on television,the sight of bereavedfamilies and spectatorsprovoked him to create apoem expressing hisown feelings about thedisaster.With encouragementand assistance from hismother, Foutz then senthis poem to PresidentReagan. After waitingfour weeks, Foutzreceived a personal letterfrom the President. In theletter Reagan wrote,Perhaps the best wayto honor Christa and theother crew memberswould be to work hard inschool and in yourcommunity so thatsomeday you will reachyour goals and dreamsshe wished you would.The responseencouraged Foutz. Hesaid, Its sound advice.Everyone should getinvolved with thecommunity by writing toofficials.Foutz has beenexpressing his feelingsthrough poetry since thefifth grade. I can letpeople know how I feelthrough my poetry, hesaid.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/2436
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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