When I was little, someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. According to my mom, I wanted to be an astronaut. Of course, that desire changed several times as I grew up, but I think deep down, we always hang on to that first memory of wanting to do something extraordinary.
I was born in 1973, a year after the last Apollo mission to the moon. Too young to have any understanding of what the space program was or anything like that, my only understanding of what an astronaut was came from a 1959 “I Can Read All By Myself” book titled, You Will Go To the Moon. The book was on my grandma’s bookshelf. The cover had a little boy looking at the moon through a telescope. This book was written well before the idea was conceived to travel to the moon. There’s no telling how many times that book got read to me. I still have the book and it is worn from all the times it has been read. It’s very likely that this book made me interested in being an astronaut when I was little.
By the time I got to Kindergarten, I wanted to be a doctor, even though I hated shots and getting my finger pricked. First grade rolled around and I remember watching the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. The space shuttle program marked NASA’s official return to space. Every time a space shuttle would launch, our teachers would pull out the TVs and we would watch. We watched the first launches of Space Shuttles Challenger and Discovery, amazed every time those powerful rockets took off. We watched in silence and shock, and then wept as we saw Space Shuttle Challenger explode with school teacher, Christa McAuliffe on board. It was a tragic setback.
After the shuttle program was grounded as the Challenger disaster was investigated, we didn’t watch as many launches. Two more shuttles were added to the program: Atlantis (built to replace Challenger) and Endeavor. From there, the space shuttle program accelerated with international cooperation, helping to build the International Space Station. Launches became so routine, we seemed to lose our interest in the space program. Then tragedy struck again as our first space shuttle, Columbia, disintegrated as it passed through the atmosphere on its way home due to broken heat tiles. For me this was made even more tragic in that I got to see the first launch of Columbia and then saw it break apart on the news. Another tragic setback.
Not too many years later, the space shuttle program came to an end, with the orbiters being put on display as museum pieces. NASA seemed to have lost its importance. We were now relying on the Russians to carry American astronauts to the International Space Station. It wasn’t until Elon Musk came on the scene that interest in space exploded once again. Enter SpaceX and the idea that space travel doesn’t have to be a government funded endeavor. SpaceX reinvigorated our interest in space exploration.
Fast forward to 2024…after so many years of being interested in space travel, I finally got to go to Kennedy Space Center. I got to watch and feel the rumble of a Falcon 9 rocket launch. I saw a Saturn V rocket and a space shuttle on display. Even better, we got to learn all about the Artemis program that was taking us back to the moon. We’ve come full circle!
Imagine my excitement on April 1st, when I watched the Artemis II mission begin to unfold. I got to watch the biggest and most powerful rocket to ever be launched ascend into the atmosphere, taking with it new hopes and dreams of intrepid adventurers. Once again history was made and I watched it happen. I sat in awe, riding along from the comfort of my couch, as the astronauts took pictures of the far side of the moon. I watched as the President of the United States congratulated the Orion crew and Houston for their record-setting, farthest distance from Earth, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13. I sat anxiously as the Orion capsule moved behind the moon, losing all human contact for 40 minutes. As the Orion capsule returned to Earth, I endured the stress of waiting to hear the voices of the crew after enduring the g-forces and heat of re-entry as they travelled at 25,000mph. I watched as the rescue teams pulled the astronauts from the Orion capsule as the Artemis crew signed off on a successful mission.
To me, there’s something to be said about our space program. Being part of the space program requires certain qualities: fearlessness, unending curiosity, an untamable sense of adventure, an ability to be a problem solver and a teammate, a high degree of fortitude, and lastly, a high level of faith: faith in the people you work alongside, faith in the best of humanity, and faith in our divine Creator.
I think this space mission really provides us with an opportunity to reflect, and think about the importance of cooperation, the spirit of community, the fact that we all need each other in this world that we live in. A house divided cannot stand. There’s a whole lot more that unites human beings than divides us and we need to realize this. To realize that we can accomplish so many things when we work together. For us adults, it is encumbered upon us to teach our children the importance of empirical science, science that is separated from the noise of politics. We need to encourage our kids to be adventurous and imaginative, teaching them that the only limits to their potential are the fears of making mistakes and failing. NASA scientists know that failure is necessary for success to happen. Failure does not prevent advancement, it just changes the path we take to get to our final destination.
Until Next Time!
Clint Calhoun teaches high school science and outdoor education classes at Lake Lure Classical Academy and has worked as a naturalist and biologist in Hickory Nut Gorge for over 25 years.
