Twenty Years After Challenger

Recent events of the disease, death and dysfunction variety have pulled my focus away from the blogosphere again. Have decided to take a break from Islamofascism and Fifth Column warfare to indulge in some personal reflections. I know I promised that this would be a navel-gazing free zone but, I feel the need for a personal indulgence and reminiscence. I hope you will bear with me.

Twenty years ago I was sitting at a trading desk at a major Wall Street firm. At strategic points of the trading room there were these huge televisions mounted on brackets hanging from the ceiling. The techno boom was just starting and flat screens were a still a dream. We were a patriotic, news loving band of jolly capitalists so all the screens were set to the Challenger launch. In my mind's eye, I still see the out of control smoke plume following the explosion twirling across the television screens, over and over and over. The cacophony of the trading room fell silent. I looked at one of the only other women on the desks. Tears coursed silently down her cheeks. It was a sight I won't ever forget. And a silence that hurts to remember.

I'm no rocket scientist but I honor our need to explore and salute those who have the guts and the will to do so.

I recommend you to Dr. Pat Santy over at Dr. Sanity and her recounting of that fateful day.

On January 28, 1986, I was at Cape Canaveral in Florida. As a NASA Flight Surgeon, I had been assigned as the Crew Surgeon for Mission 51-L (noone really wanted the job since many disapproved of having a civilian--the teacher in space--fly on a space mission). The crew had trained together for over a year, and I had come to know them all very well in the course of the training and medical preparation. I had been at the Cape for over a week and the launch had been scrubbed several times for a variety of reasons. I had been staying in a cheap motel in Cocoa Beach as we waited for weather to permit the launch attempt.

Dr. Sanity is a voice that should be heard.