They huddled close against the unexpected cold, eager, even a little impatient, after numerous delays and full of the sense of being part of something bigger than themselves.
Three miles away from the launch pad, the ground shook under their feet and the air reverberated as the space shuttle Challenger lifted off on its 10th mission.
What happened 73 seconds later was horrifyingly clear to the millions of people watching on television. But for the six children from Boulder County — part of a group of teachers and students chosen by Ball Aerospace to view the launch in person — it was, at first, just confusing.
“It was so far away that the sound was just a ‘pop,’ ” said John Weller, then an 11-year-old student at Bear Creek Elementary School. “It looked odd, but we didn’t know what had happened. It didn’t sink in.”
“They’re all dead”
There was an awful silence that seemed to go on forever, and then, Weller remembers, Ball representative David Aguilar said, “They’re all dead. That was an explosion, and they’re all dead.”
Among the shuttle’s seven crew members was Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher in space, and astronaut Ellison Onizuka, a graduate of the University of Colorado. There is a memorial to him on campus with a CU flag and football, which he was taking into space. The items were among the debris found after the explosion.
Witnessing the Challenger catastrophe seems to have deeply influenced those who were there.
Weller became a photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on conservation of threatened ecosystems and ways of life.
“It’s not an active pain, but it is a driving fire in my life,” he said of the blast. “I’m doing work that celebrates the fragility of life. There is a humility in watching people you respect, your heroes, perish.”
Still in touch
Bobbi Winterowd, also 11 at the time, said those who were on the trip share a special bond. Many of them are still in touch, and she often finds herself calling the others around the anniversary of the disaster.
Now a project engineer for Lockheed Martin, she said she learned a valuable lesson from the tragedy.
“Life is short,” she said. “Grab hold of it, and enjoy it while you’re here.”
Winterowd said she thinks the astronauts who lost their lives would want us to keep learning, exploring and stretching the limits of human knowledge. She worries when she hears people question the worth of the space program.
“I fear for a time when we’re not exploring space anymore,” she said. “That would be a great dishonor to their memory.”
