A carriage moves down a street during Associated Press journalist Brian Hannon's visit to Tombstone, Ariz., on Dec. 17, 2020.
I was in eighth grade. Our teacher wheeled in a television so we could watch the launch of the NASA mission that would lift another educator from neighboring New Hampshire into the sky and beyond. Yet like everyone else, I have been stunned into submission. I missed family milestones both happy and mournful, and saw highly anticipated events canceled by the virus . My lifelong asthma also has heightened my fear of infection and kept me mostly inside, avoiding others.
Freeze-dried broccoli and mushrooms, packets of soup and powdered coconut milk give me a sense of safety and have helped shed a healthy number of pounds, but my palate yearns to break free from quarantine. Sitting next to a campfire outside my cabin, I looked to an intensely clear night sky filled with a dazzling array of stars — the same frontier toward which the Challenger ascended on its final journey — and felt connected to the cosmos but removed from society.While enjoying the open terrain and absence of crowds, my perennial mask and alcohol wipes never allowed me to forget the threat and forced separation under which we all live. I was moving and free, but disconnected.
bpdhannon I know where I was and watched the demise of the Challenger
bpdhannon Great writing, nailed the feelings of many I’m sure
bpdhannon brilliant writing. really enjoyed reading that and related to it so deeply
bpdhannon While everyone is being distracted by all this petty stuff no one is talking about what’s been taking place all week in Davis Switzerland, nothing to see there!
bpdhannon The colossal management failure that engineering teams at NASA and Morton-Thiokol warned about! It didn't have to happen. Difficult to believe that Regan didn't apply immense pressure to launch as SOTU was scheduled that evening!