Remembering The Challenger

Good Saturday afternoon all and welcome to this edition (#21) of "With That Said" (WTS), a LinkedIn newsletter powered by your friends here at Supply Chain Now .

Today, we honor & remember the 37th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy. The second space shuttle to fly into space (after the initial Space Shuttle Columbia), the Challenger was named for the legendary HMS Challenger, a British vessel that was dedicated to the exploration of the seas from 1872 to 1876.

On January 28th at 11:38 am ET, the Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B. Aboard the shuttle for mission STS-51-L was:

Commander: Dick Scobee from Cle Elum, Washington

Pilot: Michael J. Smith from Beaufort, North Carolina

Mission Specialist: Ellison Onizuka from Kealakekua, Hawaii

Mission Specialist: Dr. Judith Resnik from Akron, Ohio

Mission Specialist: Dr. Ronald McNair from Lake City, South Carolina

Payload Specialist: Gregory Jarvis from Detroit, Michigan

Astronaut & Teacher: Christa McAuliffe from Boston, Massachusetts

Approximately 73 seconds after lift-off, the Challenger and its crew were lost in a massive explosion. Today, we're going to focus more on the crew - but the root cause of this tragedy and the painful, subsequent lessons learned must never be forgotten. We recommend this read from Space.com and we highly recommend the Netflix limited series entitled "Challenger: Final Flight".

Dick Scobee began his military career as an engine mechanic in the United States Air Force . He would go on to earn a commission - and then work his way into becoming a combat & test pilot for the USAF. After flying the massive C-5 Galaxy while on active duty, Scobee would later spend some time serving as an instructor pilot for the specialized Boeing 747 that carried various space shuttles. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978 and flew his first mission as an astronaut on the Challenger in 1984. He would leave behind a wife & two children. His son Rich, who would go on to serve as a USAF pilot and earn the rank of Lieutenant General, would later say this: "Going from turning wrenches on the flight line to commanding a space shuttle...no country in the world could you do that except for this one. That guy would make you feel good about you. He just had a way of making you feel successful."

Michael J. Smith was fascinated with flying at a very early age, growing up near an airfield in North Carolina. It has been said that during a game where he was playing JV quarterback, Smith called a timeout just so he could watch a military aircraft pass overhead. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, he'd go on to fly 28 different types of military & civilian aircraft. Smith would leave behind his wife & three children. It's been recently reported that Smith's great nephew, Jacob Smith, wants to follow in his uncle's footsteps. The 4th grader is very interested in space flight. About January 28th each year, Jacob says: "I feel good because more people get to learn about my uncle, but it feels sad because of the disaster. It's been a while since it happened, but I like it a lot because people do need to learn what happened."

Ellison Onizuka grew up in Hawaii and would go on to attend the 美国科罗拉多大学博尔德分校 , earning undergraduate and masters degrees in Aerospace Engineering. He would join the USAF and become a flight test engineer & test pilot. Onizuka would be selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978 and would fly his first mission above the Space Shuttle Discovery on January 24th, 1985, becoming the first Asian-American astronaut. A notorious hard-worker (that colleagues loved to work & fly with), Onizuka was driven to succeed by his parents, who would say: "We can't give you money, but we can give you an education." Onizuka was known to give Kona coffee to his colleagues (including mission control), and also host luaus in his backyard. Onizuka would leave behind his wife & two daughters. Onizuka was once quoted as saying "Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds...to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation."

Dr. Judith Resnik gained a lot of attention for her intellectual ability as a child, growing up in Ohio. In fact, in high school, Resnik would be one of the very few to attain a perfect SAT score. She would go on to attend Carnegie Institute of Technology (now 美国卡内基梅隆大学 ) to study Electrical Engineering - - one of only 3 female students to do so at the time. After college, Resnik would work extensively in the private sector, establishing a brilliant reputation for her technological acumen. It's been said that Nichelle Nichols, who famously played Lt. Nyota Uhura on Star Trek, recruited Resnik to the astronaut program. Aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, Resnik would complete her first mission in August 1984, becoming the second American woman in space (following Sally Ride). That's an pioneering honor that Resnik may have disregarded, as her father Marvin, stated once that she told him: "Dad, I don't want to be a Jewish astronaut. I don't want to be a Jewish woman astronaut. I just want to be an astronaut, period. I just want to go out in space and do my job."

Dr. Ronald McNair grew up in Lake City, SC in the late '50s and early '60s, when the city was segregated. One summer morning in 1959, McNair was initially denied from checking books out from the local public library. His mother & the police were called - - and ultimately, the aspiring, extraordinary, determined young mind would leave with the books in hand. Years later, the building that housed that former library is named after him: the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Life History Center. McNair go on to graduate from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (magna cum laude) and then earn his PhD from 美国麻省理工学院 . McNair, who was also recruited by Nichols, would be selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978 and would fly on his first mission on the Challenger in 1984. At a commencement speech at the University of South Carolina in spring of 1984, McNair challenged students to be bold & confident: "You're better than good enough. You may not come from a well-to-do financial background. You may not come from an affluent social background...but if you're willing to work hard, sacrifice and struggle, then I proclaim today that you're better than good enough."

Gregory Jarvis grew up in Detroit, graduating from Mohawk Central High School, which was later renamed as Gregory B. Jarvis High School. He'd earn an undergraduate & graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, and would go on to join the USAF upon graduation. After serving his 4 years, Jarvis would depart active duty and join Hughes Aircraft Company , where he'd be one of two employees selected as an astronaut candidate in 1984. Jarvis would be scratched from two missions on the space shuttle; replaced both times by politicians. He would fatefully be reassigned to STS-51-L aboard the Challenger. He would leave behind his wife Marcia, who said this about Gregory Jarvis: "He had a twinkle in his eye that said how much he enjoyed life. He had the best smile. He had so much energy and zest for everything he did. He had so much enthusiasm it was contagious."

Christa McAuliffe was born in Boston, but would go on to call Concord, New Hampshire home, where she'd serve as a high school social studies teacher. It's been said that McAuliffe really enjoyed amplifying & teaching about the impact that "ordinary people" had on history; and how they were just as important as "kings, politicians & generals". As most know, McAuliffe would be selected from over 11,000 applicants to serve in the NASA Teacher in Space Project. She wrote on her NASA application: "I watched the Space Age being born and I would like to participate". As part of the STS-51-L mission, McAuliffe had been planning to conduct two 15-minute lessons from space, to students across the country. While classrooms tuning in live for space shuttle launches was pretty common in the 1980s - - there was an even bigger school audience for the Challenger launch in 1986 due to the excitement surrounding McAuliffe's participation.

Our own Scott Luton recalls: "I was in third grade at Aiken Elementary in Aiken, SC. We had rolled in the TV cart a few minutes prior and were watching the launch in Ms. Sweat's class. As we watched the tragedy play out live, I'm not sure if my young mind could really fathom & understand what took place. And the tremendous loss for both those 7 families and our country as a whole. Additionally, there was some misplaced hope (and initial confusion) that the astronauts might have ejected from the vehicle. Of course, the days that followed shattered that hope and sense of optimism."

But looking forward, we should all be inspired by the achievements, innovation, hard work, sacrifice & courage shown by all seven of these astronauts, as well as keep Christa McAuliffe's words in mind:

"Space is for everybody. It's not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That's our new frontier out there and it's everybody's business to know about space."

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