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CNN Live At Daybreak
Talk of CNN: Comparisons Between Columbia, Challenger Disasters
Aired February 03, 2003 - 05:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Columbia tragedy yanks Concord, New Hampshire and the rest of the country back to the Challenger disaster 17 years ago. It was January 28, 1986 before hundreds of spectators and millions more watching on television the Challenger launch turned to horror in just 73 seconds. Like Columbia, there was a crew of seven on board, six astronauts and Concord, New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. She was the first American civilian to climb into a shuttle. It would be more than two-and-a-half years before shuttle flights resumed.
Of course the shuttle tragedy is "The Talk of CNN" in the Granite State this morning. Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, better known as the WOKQ Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire on the phone with us now -- good morning.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH AND MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Carol, good morning.
As you mentioned, the comparisons between the Columbia disaster this weekend and Challenger in 1986 were almost inevitable. This past Tuesday, the 28th, as you noted, the anniversary of Challenger was made note of, particularly in Concord, in the state capital, the hometown of Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe, home of the Christa McAuliffe planetarium.
Saturday, we were lucky enough to be joined for a little while on the air here at WOKQ by one of the educators at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium. The aftermath of Columbia is eerily similar, but yet much faster moving than the aftermath of the Challenger disaster.
MEL CAMERON, CHRISTA MCAULIFFE PLANETARIUM: NASA will survive. One of the things will happen is that we'll just -- they'll do some good investigating and we'll find out the cause of this. It'll make them better. After the Challenger disaster, they redid the whole shuttle. They made it safer so that the O-Rings were improved, for example. They had a redesign the SRBs (ph). We, unfortunately, have to learn from tragedy from time to time, but I'm sure there's going to be a delay in the upcoming flights of the shuttle. But I think within the year or so you'll find things will get back on schedule.
ERICSON: That's Mel Cameron, one of the educators at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium. Interesting to note also, Carol, that the McAuliffe Planetarium attracted some extra visitors over the weekend as well as the gravesite of Christa McAuliffe snow-covered in Concord, New Hampshire. And one additional New Hampshire connection, Carol, Professor Jay Buckley (ph), he's a medical professor at Dartmouth Medical School, he was a civilian in space. He flew on board Columbia in 1998. Somewhat coincidentally, it was a 16-day mission in '98 that Professor Buckley was on.
COSTELLO: How eerie for him. Let me ask you this, in the McAuliffe Planetarium, were there people in there watching Columbia blast -- or come in for a landing?
ERICSON: Well, the reality is that the planetarium didn't actually open for business until shortly after the scheduled landing time of 9:16 on Saturday. And in the lobby of the McAuliffe Planetarium, they have a direct satellite hookup to NASA television. That was turned on at approximately 10:00 a.m. And once word started to get out, the planetarium started to fill up with people who wanted to come by and there had been a mini-memorial set up at Christa McAuliffe's gravesite in Concord in the snow.
COSTELLO: Yes, it just brings it all back, doesn't it?
ERICSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Mark, we sure appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Disasters>
Aired February 3, 2003 - 05:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Columbia tragedy yanks Concord, New Hampshire and the rest of the country back to the Challenger disaster 17 years ago. It was January 28, 1986 before hundreds of spectators and millions more watching on television the Challenger launch turned to horror in just 73 seconds. Like Columbia, there was a crew of seven on board, six astronauts and Concord, New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. She was the first American civilian to climb into a shuttle. It would be more than two-and-a-half years before shuttle flights resumed.
Of course the shuttle tragedy is "The Talk of CNN" in the Granite State this morning. Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, better known as the WOKQ Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire on the phone with us now -- good morning.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH AND MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Carol, good morning.
As you mentioned, the comparisons between the Columbia disaster this weekend and Challenger in 1986 were almost inevitable. This past Tuesday, the 28th, as you noted, the anniversary of Challenger was made note of, particularly in Concord, in the state capital, the hometown of Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe, home of the Christa McAuliffe planetarium.
Saturday, we were lucky enough to be joined for a little while on the air here at WOKQ by one of the educators at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium. The aftermath of Columbia is eerily similar, but yet much faster moving than the aftermath of the Challenger disaster.
MEL CAMERON, CHRISTA MCAULIFFE PLANETARIUM: NASA will survive. One of the things will happen is that we'll just -- they'll do some good investigating and we'll find out the cause of this. It'll make them better. After the Challenger disaster, they redid the whole shuttle. They made it safer so that the O-Rings were improved, for example. They had a redesign the SRBs (ph). We, unfortunately, have to learn from tragedy from time to time, but I'm sure there's going to be a delay in the upcoming flights of the shuttle. But I think within the year or so you'll find things will get back on schedule.
ERICSON: That's Mel Cameron, one of the educators at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium. Interesting to note also, Carol, that the McAuliffe Planetarium attracted some extra visitors over the weekend as well as the gravesite of Christa McAuliffe snow-covered in Concord, New Hampshire. And one additional New Hampshire connection, Carol, Professor Jay Buckley (ph), he's a medical professor at Dartmouth Medical School, he was a civilian in space. He flew on board Columbia in 1998. Somewhat coincidentally, it was a 16-day mission in '98 that Professor Buckley was on.
COSTELLO: How eerie for him. Let me ask you this, in the McAuliffe Planetarium, were there people in there watching Columbia blast -- or come in for a landing?
ERICSON: Well, the reality is that the planetarium didn't actually open for business until shortly after the scheduled landing time of 9:16 on Saturday. And in the lobby of the McAuliffe Planetarium, they have a direct satellite hookup to NASA television. That was turned on at approximately 10:00 a.m. And once word started to get out, the planetarium started to fill up with people who wanted to come by and there had been a mini-memorial set up at Christa McAuliffe's gravesite in Concord in the snow.
COSTELLO: Yes, it just brings it all back, doesn't it?
ERICSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Mark, we sure appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Disasters>
