Currently streaming on Netflix is the four-part docu-series Challenger: The Final Flight, an in-depth look at the space shuttle disaster from 1986. It’s built from archival footage and re-enactments as well as dozens of personal interviews. While the production aims to offer insight as to why and how the accident occurred – which it does well – the emotional series is more focused on the people impacted by the tragedy, giving a platform to many involved on all sides of the event to tell their stories.
This lends the documentary a unique appeal. Rather than emphasizing on the tremendous technical aspects of the shuttle’s immensely complicated systems and the failure of one small part that led to destruction, the series puts most of its energy into giving those that were part of it the opportunity to reflect and remember. It’s an honestly moving tribute to the seven people who perished, including Christa McAuliffe, famously, a teacher and the first citizen selected to travel into space as many are still alive and remain forever changed by this defining moment in space flight.
Recently, the Challenger Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to space education, hosted a live webinar with the makers of the series, including co-directors Daniel Junge and Steven Leckart and producer Glen Zipper, along with crew family members June Scobee Rodgers, wife of Challenger Commander and Pilot Richard Scobee, and Alison Smith Balch, daughter of Pilot Michael Smith. The event was moderated by Challenger Center President & CEO, Lance Bush. I was asked by special invitation to attend.
Here are some highlights:
If there is any technical advantages that the coronavirus has afforded us, it is the possibility to be part of experiences perhaps otherwise unavailable to most. For example, instead of a private conference or press meeting open in a single location with a few local invitees, large scale events can reach far more online, creating a much more personal exchange with those looking to share stories and ideas.
So it is with the Challenger Center webinar, where host Lance Bush welcomed his remote panel and the many in virtual attendance, kicking off an hour or so of talks about the docu-series and more. I want to say first though that, like many, the Challenger accident had great significance for me, at the time especially. I was a young university student in January, 1986, sitting in my dorm with a portable black & white 13-inch TV on my desk, doing my homework and watching the live broadcast. I had long been a ‘fan’ of the space program, being alive (but too young to remember) the first moon landing, and then, growing up with all the missions after, keeping a journal of newspaper clippings of NASA’s achievements right up into the my college days.
The Challenger Center was created by the family’s of those who perished in the Challenger disaster, its mission to carry on the spirit of exploration and space travel, dedicated to remembering those lost while education generations after about the wonders of science and reaching for the stars.
Mr. Bush introduced the panel and gave each wide opportunities to offer background and personal anecdotes about their experience with the film and the history of it. Co-director Steve Leckart mentioned the team spent four years researching the project, traveling all around the country conducting numerous interviews, saying that he sought to romanticize the past in respects to how different the 1980s were in unifying the country after the accident especially, inspiring hope and making many believe the future was bright.
That sentiment was universal among the panel, the notion that a terrible national tragedy galvanized the nation’s population, where politics didn’t matter and coming together as a people to move forward was most important. Times were different. Producer Glen Zipper echoed this and added that while the pride of the nation to overcome and rebuild was central to the film’s message, it further serves as a cautionary tale that there are great and terrible risks and human fallibility that we must always face in heading for new horizons.
Co-director Daniel Junge was the least outspoken, but clearly felt the same as his fellow filmmakers, saying how the film worked hard to give the people of the story the focus rather than the technical aspects, and finding the positive feedback since the film’s release encouraging that even after three decades, people still want to learn more.
That especially was the weight behind June Rodgers Scobee’s talk, the widow of the Challenger’s Commander, saying that while she initially was not receptive to participating in the series – fearing to relive the worst day of her life again – she eventually felt the filmmaker’s vision was one of humanity, keeping the story about the personalities being the right choice. She spoke of how modest and humble her husband was and reminded us not always to remember how he and the others so tragically died but rather how well they lived. Well said.
This was something producer Glen Zipper spoke of with some genuine emotion, urging people to remember Christa McAuliffe but to remind us that the Challenger was not only her story. Six others gave their lives and deserve to have names remembered as well. It was a powerful moment, and it is something the docu-series handles very well, greatly illuminating the histories, motivations, and contributions of these brave astronauts.
Allison Balch, who was fourteen when her father was killed, spoke eloquently of her dad, asked to tell a story of him that was not featured in the Netflix production. She told of bike rides with no hands and ice cream treats and ended with a touching story of how he encouraged her to ask herself if she had always done her best, this just one month before he was lost. It is something she has carried with her ever since.
Forgiveness also found circulation, something the docu-series is not afraid to confront, that ultimately, mistakes were made and people sided with some difficult choices that led to tragedy. We see a few of these people face these demons decades later in the film, and it’s genuinely impactful. The notion of moving forward with forgiveness was echoed in the discussion, and felt honest and even refreshing in a time now where such does not seem all that ready to be given in other circumstances.
Overall, the talk was less about the production of the docu-series but rather a reflective opportunity to share some final thoughts and urge attendees to keep moving forward. It ended with some commentary on the Challenger Center’s continuing efforts, including the completion of McAuliffe’s planned lessons. It’s worth taking the time to explore the site and learn more.