Experts at Florida State University have provided insight regarding the upcoming 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster in which all astronauts on board, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, were lost 73 seconds after liftoff.
The disaster on January 28, 1986 became a “where were you when?” moment for a generation, especially for schoolchildren — now adults — who were gathered in classrooms across the nation to watch live on television as teacher McAuliffe made history.
A sociologist, a traumatologist, as well as a historian and educational specialist, have offered a range of reactions stemming from the Challenger accident 25 years ago.
A grieving nation
Sally Karioth, professor of nursing and certified traumatologist is a nationally recognized grief, trauma and stress expert. She focuses on the ways in which the nation grieved in the aftermath of the explosion and what we have learned about helping children cope in the wake of such tragedies.
“There is really no time limit on remembered traumatic responses,” Karioth noted. Those old enough can pinpoint where we were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, when people heard about Princess Diana, the 9/11 terrorist attack, Katrina and the Challenger disaster.
“The Challenger disaster is especially poignant as there were millions of school children watching. The adults who sat with these children and watched the disaster unfold on TV were horrified. They became responsible for explanations to the children at a level they could understand…when in fact the adults couldn’t understand it themselves,” Karioth pointed out. “We as a nation have these collective griefs that we share. It is comforting to know that others saw what we saw, felt as we did and understand when we tell our own stories; they will understand because they, too, were there.”
Larger lessons
Ronald Doel, associate professor of history, teaches the history of recent science and is actively involved in Arctic and polar research, including interdisciplinary and internationally comparative research activities. In addition, he was in a NASA facility, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on the day the Challenger exploded, and has some very strong memories of that event.
Historians and sociologists have certainly studied the incident as an example of how technological systems fail, and there are larger lessons for not only STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — fields but the importance of integrating humanities/social science/natural science perspectives – “that is, why the campus matters,” Doel said.
Lawrence Scharmann, assistant dean of the College of Education, has a background in science-teacher education and biological science. He points to teachable moments from the Challenger mishap that can be highlighted.
“Points of discussion might be a sense of lost idealism and mortality for the power of the space program to generate unbridled enthusiasm.”
Jesse Cougle, assistant professor of psychology, said that these types of commemorations can be helpful for people who lost those close to them. “It can make them feel as if the legacy of the departed lives on. It can also be perspective-building in that their focus is turned towards more important things. It can draw them closer to friends and family.”
By LD/CSE