January 28th marked thirty-three years since the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded in mid-air soon after launch. The explosion which killed the seven astronauts on-board shocked our nation and brought forth national mourning. The flight was significant because it involved a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who was going to teach some classes for students across the country in space and then lecture nationwide in schools upon her return. As a part of the “teacher-in-space” program, school children from across the country were tuned in watching the nationally televised launch of the shuttle.
I was nine years old at the time and in the fourth grade. I remember watching the explosion. I remember coming home and talking to my parents about the explosion. It consumed the nation and broke the hearts of teachers and children across the country.
The Challenger flight in 1986 was the 25th Shuttle flight. February 1st marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Columbia disaster. Columbia disintegrated upon reentering earth’s atmosphere. There were a total of 135 Shuttle flights. Most of them did not garner much national attention after the first few years. They went from April 1981 to July 2011. 135 flights and only two disasters; but which ones do we remember? Adults all across the country still remember witnessing Challenger explode in mid-air.
As we pass these anniversaries, there are two life lessons I can see. First, as illustrated by the Space Shuttle’s history, we tend to remember the painful and negative events more than the mundane and positive ones. We don’t count anniversaries of the other 133 flights. We don’t remember watching a successful flight in elementary school, but we do remember the Challenger explosion. In life, it is the painful and hard experiences that cut the deepest, leave the most lasting impression, and impact our future greatly.
Second, NASA’s actions with the program illustrate a powerful lesson for all those school children who witnessed Challenger explode. They halted the program for two years and learned what caused the disaster. They learned from their failure, but they continued on with the program. They didn’t let the painful, negative experience ruin their future. They would launch 110 more shuttle flights. They carried on despite the disaster. Isn’t that a metaphor for life? The painful experience will stick out in our memory, but it must not stop us. We must push onward and upward in life (Phil. 3:12-16).
