Binge watched all four episodes of the riveting new Netflix documentary series CHALLENGER: THE FINAL FLIGHT earlier in the week. Equal parts harrowing and heartbreaking, but always fascinating. The series looks back at the history and development of the Space Shuttle (via some terrific old footage), the historic first launch and landing of the Columbia shuttle in the California desert in 1981 (with Steven Spielberg and Roy Rogers amongst the awestruck witnesses), and the mounting concerns that put the program behind schedule almost from the start. NASA’s promise to deliver a profitable means of re-usable space transportation saw them under pressure that made them put business before lives.
The interviews with the family members of the seven deceased astronauts are incredibly sad. I felt particularly sorry for Marcia Jarvis, whose husband Gregory was originally scheduled for the flight previous to Challenger, but he was bumped off by Senator Jake Garn, who became the first sitting member of Congress to fly into space. The bumping of the spot meant Jarvis was now relegated to the doomed Challenger flight.
You also can’t help but think of the nine runner-up schoolteachers who came so close to being in Christa McAuliffe’s shoes on the day (the doco does interview Barbara Morgan, who was the back-up should McAuliffe had been unfit or otherwise unable to make the flight). The fact that Challenger had on board the first schoolteacher sent into space meant that millions of inspired young American students sat glued to the television set to watch the launch live, only to look on in horror as the Challenger exploded in front of their eyes less than two minutes into its flight. Tragically, one of the reasons why NASA did not want to delay the flight any further was because McAullife was scheduled to teach two classes live from the shuttle while it was in orbit, which would be beamed into American schools. If NASA had delayed the flight again, the scheduled lesson would have fallen on a weekend, when there was no school, something that the space agency did not want to risk after all the publicity build-up and anticipation.
Hopefully there will be a similar series produced that looks into the other tragic Space Shuttle mission, that of the original shuttle Columbia, which after 27 successful flights burned-up upon re-entry on re-entry in 2003, killing all seven crew members.
