Saturday, January 13, 2018


Note from Lurene: Those who have questions about these old stories I wrote for Bay Area newspapers, feel free to call Lurene (me) at (360) 656-6838 or email me at lurenexyz@gmail.com

Regards,

Lurene Gisee
Bellingham, WA
September 20, 2019



The Challenger Explosion

Remember 1986:




Published news story, May 2, 1985, Chabot College Spectator, Hayward, California. “Instructor May Ride The Shuttle,” by Lurene Helzer. A pretty brief story of only six paragraphs. Runs on page one of this small student newspaper alongside photo of instructor William Dillon authored by photographer Matt Santos.

The story would, at the next meeting of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, be named the second-place news story for that academic period. Notable really for two reasons: First, that I won such a prize at all, given the number of students in California’s community colleges in 1985. This is the less-important reason compared to the other.

The other reason is this: national tragedy. Chabot Aeronautics Instructor Dillon, who the story is about, might have been on the space shuttle Challenger during its January 28, 1986 launch. Had he done so, he would have perished along with the space vehicle’s other occupants that day.

The shuttle disintegrated shortly after launch. There was a school teacher on board, Christa McAuliffe, chosen as finalist for the so-called Teacher in Space Project, but she died with all other occupants of the space vehicle. School children everywhere who were following the lift-off were shocked. Dillon was a finalist as McAuliffe had been.

After the disaster, the news traveled rapidly. It at least made people aware of danger of space exploration. It has always been a risky and demanding job.

Below, President Ronald Reagan's January 28, 1986 words to the nation after the

explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger:

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm



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