Challenger anniversary

39 years ago today, the crew of the Challenger died in a fiery explosion 73 seconds after liftoff.

I was in the warehouse at work when a field engineer told me the shuttle had exploded. I thought it was a sick joke. That couldn’t happen, right? Then I returned to the office, and the engineering manager asked me if I’d heard about Challenger blowing up.

Today, we know that one brave engineer at Morton Thiokol (the company that built the solid fuel boosters) knew that the O rings were at risk of failing. He tried to stop the launch. As I understand it, President Reagan had a speech scheduled at NASA and he wanted the shuttle in the air for it, so there was an arbitrary deadline to launch. Politics shouldn’t override science.

On the personal side, today felt like a long day, although I didn’t accomplish anything.

Every three to nine months, I have injections on either side of my sacroiliac joint to treat lower back pain. Today was the day, so Rick had to take time off to play chauffeur. We headed to the hospital early in the morning, and I was whisked back to get ready. Then we played “hurry up and wait” for a few hours. I wasn’t in the operating room until about 1 pm. (I think, anyway. I had to give Rick my watch, of course.) I asked that I not be knocked out this time, as it takes forever to recover from anesthesia, and we have a family history of malignant hyperthermia, which could appear at any time. The fewer experiences I have with anesthesia, the better! Local anesthetics don’t carry the same risk.

I foolishly thought I would get some work done later in the day, but no! Despite not having any anesthesia, I slept on the way home. I managed to keep my eyes open for a work meeting, but after that I was out for the rest of the day. I forgot that I wasn’t able to take my stay-awake medication this morning.1I have excessive daytime sleepiness but am suspected to have narcolepsy like another family member. When I woke around 8 pm, I had time to get my daily French lessons in, but that was about it. 2Obviously, I made time to write a blog entry, too. I blame any mistakes on sleepiness.

Cyn is Rick's wife, Katie's Mom, and Esther & Oliver's Mémé. She's also a professional geek, avid reader, fledgling coder, enthusiastic gamer (TTRPGs), occasional singer, and devoted stitcher.
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