Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 6

6A The Clarion-Ledger Wednesday, lanuary 29, 1986 CHALLENGER TRAGEDY i i L. for li5 HOPKINS: Accident A 1 I a 1 A 1'FI. 4 WARWICK: Accident not unexpected CONE: Mothers shouldn't travel in space BAKER: NASA should take responsibility PARKER: Nation's money wasted in space MOSBY: BRYANT: BOULETTE: CARWYLE: NASA's done Help make NASA Launches became Good will good things more careful commonplace outweigh bad unfortunate Opinions vary on future of space program after tragedy By HENRIETTA BUCK Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Jim Warwick of Jackson said he was shocked by the space shuttle Challenger's tragic flight Tuesday, but the 44-year-old investment agent said the accident was not "terribly unexpected." "We're pioneering, and when you're pioneering, you have some losses," he said. Warwick was one of several people interviewed in Jackson following the explosion of the shuttle that killed seven people in the world's worst disaster in a space program. "I think we should continue" the space shuttle program, Warwick said.

"America didn't get where it is by quitting." Leadora Cone, 63, a cashier for J.C. Bradford Co. of Jackson, said the news "shocked me beyond words." "It was such a terrible tragedy, at first I had no thoughts," she said. What had been hailed as a historic moment for the National Aeronautics and Space Admin accident, saying she wants the program discontinued. "I think NASA should accept full responsibility for what happened," she said.

"I don't care how much money they come up with, it's not going to help those families get their loved ones back." The Rev. James Hopkins, 35, of St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson, agreed that Tuesday's accident was "tragic and unfortunate," adding that the space program should be revamped and given a much smaller piece of the nation's budget. "My immediate reaction was to say a prayer for those aboard the shuttle and for their families," he said. "I don't think the accident will stop the U.S.

from venturing into space." Davenport Mosby, 59, an insurance agent in Jackson, said despite the "horror and sadness" of the incident, NASA's record "will speak for it" istration turned to tragedy as the nation learned that Christa McAuliffe the first teacher and first civilian shuttle crew member had been killed. McAuliffe's husband, two small children and parents watched from Cape Canaveral, as the 12-year veteran teacher was killed along with six astronauts. "What made it worse is that she had children," Cone said of McAuliffe. "I just don't think that women who have children should be allowed to go up on these flights. It's not like having a regular job; this is such a high-risk thing.

It broke my heart when they showed her little girl on TV." Cone said that despite being saddened by the deaths of the shuttle crew, she remained supportive of the space program on the condition that passengers be limited to "men, and only women who don't have children." Pat Baker, 22, a Jackson telephone operator, was critical of the shuttle program following the and keep the space program going. "When you look at it, it's done a lot of good things," Mosby said. Robert Bryant, 31, an account clerk with Mississippi Power Light said the accident should "help make NASA try to be more careful," but said he didn't think it would affect the program's image. "When you're talking about something mechanical, it's pretty hard just to say it's always going to work right," he said. "You're going to have problems with machines.

That's a fact of life." The accident made Deborah Boulette, 27, a legal secretary in Jackson, realize the danger that sometimes results from space flight which she said had become commonplace and "sort of an adventure." "It bothered me to know that there were a lot of children (at Cape Canaveral) watching when the tragedy happened," she said. "I never thought of it as being dangerous before," Boulette said. "After watching so many successful flights you kind of become oblivious to it then this happens." Others interviewed shortly after the shuttle explosion Tuesday agreed that NASA's reputation and record will secure it a well-funded future. "I honestly think the good will outweigh the bad," said Betty Carwyle, 30, a legal secretary in Jackson. "I think the space program has to continue to keep up with other countries." But Jackson couple Jerry Parker, 31, and Linda Parker, 28, both hair stylists, said the space program should be stopped now and its funding used to help end the country's financial problems.

"It's too expensive and I don't see where it would be beneficial to spend all our money in space when we have too many problems down here," Jerry Parker said. Former Mississippi astronauts still believe in space program By HARVEY RICE fl if knew all those people," he said when contacted Tuesday by phone. "You deal with them on a day-to-day basis. "In any kind of an operation of this sort there is some element of risk, but I don't know how to quantify that risk," Peterson said. "I don't know whether there's one chance in a billion or one chance in a thousand." He said space shuttle flights probably were less risky than many test flight programs.

Phillip Bridges, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Mississippi State University, was one of 120 finalists for the job of mission specialist on the shuttle, the same job held by Ron McNair and Judy Resnik on Challenger's final flight. "It's particularly tragic when someone who doesn't do this as a full-time thing is killed," said Bridges, referring to shuttle passenger Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first schoolteacher in space. "In any high-performance vehicle there is a risk. I'm a pilot, there are crashes, and I keep flying," Bridges said. "NASA goes to extraordinary lengths to assure crew safety." Peterson said the shuttle program should continue while the accident is investigated.

"The space shuttle is the heart, the key of the American space launch capability," Peterson said. "I don't think the accident today has increased the risk of flying on the Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Two former astronauts from Mississippi say the midflight destruction of the space shuttle Challenger which killed seven crew members hasn't shaken their confidence in the space program. "I flew two shuttle flights and I have no qualms about flying it, and if I can again, I'd love to," said Richard H. Truly, formerly of Fayette. Truly, now an admiral with the Navy Space Command living in Dahlgren, said, "Space flight vehicles have associated hazards involved, which was obvious from the start.

This is the 25th flight and the system is well-designed." Donald Peterson, formerly of Winona, said, "I think crew members at least NASA crew members who fly these things know there's an element of risk. They have decided that the benefits of this program and the values of the program were worth taking that risk." Peterson, who walked in space on Challenger's first flight April 4, 1983, said a breakdown of some kind was inevitable. "What happened today is a random failure. I hope NASA will be able to find out and fix that so it won't happen again," Peterson said. Truly, contacted by phone at his home Tuesday, commanded the Challenger 8 flight in August and September of 1983.

Ronald McNair, a specialist killed Tuesday space documentary he helped film for Cinema aboard the space shuttle Challenger, is shown 360 a consortium of planetariums includ during a visit to Jackson in connection with a ing the City of JacksonDavis Planetarium. 2 fliers had visited Jackson Scobec, McNair aided planetarium's film RICHARD TRULY Truly and Peterson both knew the seven members of the crew, though neither had been on the same crew with them. "Each was a real pro and I think it's a loss to the nation a setback to the nation's space program," Truly said. Peterson, now a private consultant who lives near Houston, Texas, said he had worked with payload specialist Ron McNair for a short time when McNair first joined the program. "I Space flight carries few tragedies By ERIC STRINGFELLOW Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Two of the seven astronauts killed in Tuesday's explosion of the space shuttle Challenger helped produce a space documentary that premiered at Jackson's planetarium last year.

Commander Francis R. Scobee and astronaut Ronald McNair visited the City of JacksonDavis Planetarium to acquaint themselves with a city-owned camera equipped to take pictures in space. A third astronaut killed in Tuesday's disaster, Judith Resnik, later trained with the camera in Houston, Texas. The camera accompanied Scobee, McNair and Resnik on two shuttle flights and captured astronauts at work and spectacular views of Earth. Its film was used to produce the documentary, The Space Shuttle: An American Adventure.

McNair, one of four black astronauts, was in Jackson to preview the documentary in March 1984 and again when the film premiered Jan. 10, 1985. The astronaut developed a special relationship with the planetarium staff. "I'm totally devastated," said Don Warren, the planetarium's cinematographer. "Ron was more than an astronaut to us.

He was my friend. He was my buddy. "Ron probably gave more to Cinema-360 than any other astronaut. He came back with some good footage. He was recently inducted into the American Society of Cine- matographers, which is a really high honor," Warren said.

Cinema-360 Inc. is the seven-planetarium consortium that produced the film. The documentary is shown on a wraparound, 180-degree screen. The film took four years to produce. Richard Knapp, planetarium director, said he and his staff had talked with McNair during the past few weeks.

"He was excited to be going up again. He'd called me to see if he could arrange a special showing of the space film for his family. He was a tremendous achiever, as most astronauts are. He was very enthusiastic about the 360 training and became very enthusiastic about Jackson," said Knapp, who directed the film. Knapp said Scobee visited Jackson once, in March 1984.

"He was also very enthusiastic about the program and was very anxious to fly," he said. McNair signed a picture of Challenger that hangs in a corner of Mayor Dale Danks' office. The mayor heard the news of explosion on his car radio on his way to a funeral. "I can remember presenting him an honorary certificate of citizenship," the mayor said. "We sat right over there in that corner with his wife.

We exchanged pleasantries and he was easy to talk to. "I think the city got close to the astronauts involved in the production. We got to know them fairly well, under the circumstances. They were top Americans and super individuals. It's a tremendous loss of some outstanding talent that's been helping move this nation forward," Danks said.

Gannett News Service CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Tuesday's tragedy aboard the space shuttle Challenger occurred almost 19 years to the day that three astronauts died in a fiery blaze during a test of Apollo 1. The tragedy brings the number of fatalities to 14 since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin began the era of manned space flight in 1961. Four of those who died were cosmonauts. The first Soviet fatality was Vladimir Komarov, who died in 1967 when his Soyuz-1 spacecraft crashed on return to Earth.

On Jan. 27, that same year, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Virgil I.

Grissom, Edward H. White II and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Roger B. Chaffee died on the ground when a mysterious fire flashed through their spacecraft cabin.

In June 1971, Cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev died during the re-entry of their Soyuz-1 1 spacecraft. A Soviet government commission said the three died 30 minutes before landing because a faulty valve depressurized the craft. There have been other Soviet accidents, involving rockets blowing up or cosmonauts missing outer space docking attempts, but the government has provided few details. The fire in the cabin of Apollo 1 was the only disaster of the U.S. space program until the Challenger explosion.

The first indication of a problem in the Apollo was an unidentified voice saying "Hey," or "Fire." Two seconds later, Chaffee shouted: "We've got a fire in the cockpit!" The oxygen was exhausted. The astronauts lost consciousness from inhaling lethal amounts of carbon monoxide. That, and not burns, caused them to die, doctors said. The fire erupted during a full-scale simulation of the scheduled Feb. 21, 1967, launch, which was to take the three-man space crew into orbit for 14 days.

The fire flared intensely for about 25 seconds, but temperatures in parts of the capsule reached 1,000 degrees. It took five minutes to get the hatches off and confirm what the men on the surface structure already knew: those inside were dead. Unlike Tuesday's accident, which was immediately televised around the world, the public heard nothing of the Apollo 1 tragedy until a hour and 15 minutes later when NASA issued a terse statement that one person had died in an accidental fire. Tragedy renews respect for danger of space travel The terrible image, played over and over for TV audiences. Joe Rogers Columnist The Clarion-Ledger At least in theaters there were distant worlds with strange creatures to befriend, or blast away with vigor.

Everything changed Tuesday. In an instant we were all re; minded, if not of the wonder we once felt, at least of the dagger. Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher and the first real civilian to ride aboard a shuttle, wanted to inject some of that original feeling back into the program. She would carry that feeling back to her students, and to others across the country. Christa McAuliffe would be a public relations bonanza.

Talk shows. Public appearances. Maybe even a book. Who knew? "I want to bring an ordinary person's perspective," she told Today show co-host Bryant Gumbel recently. Gumbel asked if she wasn't a little bit scared.

She said she wasn't "Space flight today really seems safe," she said. That's what we all thought The very efficiency with which shuttles had gone up, come down, and gone up again anesthetized us. A spectacularly successful mission still didn't necessarily evoke much public comment A spectacular tragedy does, for a while. had an uncomfortable familiarity about it. Like the horrifying Zapruder film, perhaps, that captured the moment when a bullet destroyed the head of President John Kennedy and forced a nation to become eyewitnesses to murder.

Here we were again, riveted to the screens, watching as the space shuttle Challenger climbed 10 miles into the sky and burst into a giant fireball. Again a camera recorded it all the fiery explosion of a spacecraft, debris flung to the heavens, passengers killed instantly, with every detail captured in breathtaking color. It had never happened before, and yet we had seen it before. It looked, after all, just like a spaceship blown to pieces for fun in Star Wars. Somehow, over the years, space travel lost a bit of its wonder.

It became almost routine. It wasn't that way in the beginning. When man first began to break free from the bounds of Earth, we all felt a part of the challenge. Grown bored with exploring our home, eager to discover new worlds, we looked upward. There lay other planets, other stars, other galaxies.

We would get there, someday. Those of us young enough to indulge our imagination donned plastic toy helmets of our own and pretended to be aboard the Mercury or Gemini capsules. Surely someday we would be. Tragedy interrupted the dream in 1967. Three astronauts died in a fire aboard an Apollo craft on the launchpad.

We mourned, but then moved on with renewed caution. Finally, in July 1969, we did just what our president said we would: We delivered a man two men to the moon, and safely back home. TV took us there with them by the millions, and we cheered the astronauts and ourselves. Then we got bored. A few more trips to the moon accomplished about all that could be expected, and the program was canceled.

The new vehicle was the shuttle, which would carry men and women, freight and satellites into orbit for long periods of time. It worked so well, mission after mission, that we greeted it with a collective yawn. Kids, unable to build fantasies around orbital cargo runs, turned their attention elsewhere. George Lucas and others gave them movies with adventure and excitement 1) For we had new technologies to power our quest, new enthusiasm to fuel it. The spirit that crossed the Rockies in covered wagons now had rockets at its disposal.

The sky wasn't the limit There was no limit First we would send a man on sub-orbital flight Then we would send a man into space and around the world. Then we would send them in pairs, in threes. Soon they would go to the moon; after that who knew? Those of us locked to the ground sent our dreams with those space travelers and kept in touch through radio and TV. We watched the launches, watched the splashdowns and recoveries, fojlowed the words in between. men we move on.

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