Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Challenger Disaster

This photo shows the explosion of the shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, It was the first shuttle explosion in history. On board were two women and five men. None of them survived.
The explosion took place less than a minute after a seemingly flawless liftoff. It then disintegrated completely.
In the audience that morning were the parents of one of the female astronauts and a group of children on a school field trip to see this exciting event take place. At first they all watched eagerly, then they whispered among themselves, confused, and then the realization hit everyone - the audience and people of NASA - that the Challenger and its crew were gone.
What really touched me about this photo was that just a couple of hours before the astronauts were eating breakfast, nervous and excited about the day, just like all the other Americans watching live on CNN. They had no idea what was coming, and to have it coming  so fast makes me hope that they didn't feel any pain or a feeling of doom. Also, for the parents to see the shuttle, their daughter, and her dream of being an astronaut literally go up in smoke must have been devastating. I would think the worst part would be not knowing what was happening as the shuttle broke apart - not knowing what was happening to their own daughter.
It also came to me that any disaster has the same amount of impact or force. Pictures are worth a thousand words. And with the way that they're spreading with the media and internet, they speak more than ever. Whether it was the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 9/11, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Holocaust, or the Challenger Disaster, someone in the world could see the tragedy and feel their heart break  and their eyes well up with tears as they think about the lives lost and ruined.

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