What to say? It’s not the moment for rhetorical praise of heroism. The news of the failure of the space shuttle mission,1 broadcast in real time, or almost, throughout the entire world, is not comparable to a tragic accident on the job. Not only were seven young lives lost but, along with them, an enormous capital of intelligence that had been invested in experience. Each of the astronauts, except the unfortunate schoolteacher, had accumulated an invaluable store of knowledge, which vanished in an instant, in an apocalyptic fire.
A useful sacrifice or not? It would be cynical to make calculations, but one statement can be made with confidence. The shuttle was not as safe as had been declared. The aim of the reusable spaceship will certainly not be abandoned, but it will be achieved by an indeterminate number of improvements aimed at safety, as happened decades ago in the case of atmospheric flight.
In addition to the technological “benefits,” which, starting with the first space flights, have been productive in the most surprising fields, we now expect a benefit specifically oriented to the protection of life. Perhaps it was a mistake to move so quickly to human travel: probably the time wasn’t ripe and the risks were greater than expected.
We don’t know precisely what the goals of the shuttle project were. Maybe it was aimed essentially at prestige—if we can do this, we can do other things that we don’t want to and can’t tell you. This failure will likely, it is to be hoped, serve as a warning: the moment to think of the shuttle as the airplane of tomorrow has not yet arrived nor is it about to.
Along with grief at a collective and instantaneous death, along with the frustration that accompanies every failed undertaking, may we be allowed to express a hope that this tragedy may help prevent other, greater tragedies that the future might hold in reserve. The almost simultaneous, and marvelous, circumnavigation of Uranus by Voyager has shown us in a tangible way that the universe we live in can be explored today without risking the lives of human beings.
La Stampa, January 30, 1986
1. The space shuttle Challenger exploded and broke apart shortly after liftoff, on January 28, 1986.