‘Challenger’: Ominous trip down memory lane
Challenger: The Final Flight Rated: TV-14. Four episodes, 179 total minutes. Streaming on Netflix. 666 out of 4
The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster is one of a handful of moments in U.S. history when you remember exactly where you were when you heard the news, on the short list with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the first moon walk and, of course, 9/11.
So, for me, Netflix’s new docuseries “Challenger: The Final Flight” was less a history lesson than an ominous trip down memory lane, when I was part of a nation in mourning. But consider that about 25% of the current U.S. population wasn’t born when Challenger blew up 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986, shocking a nation and killing seven people, including a civilian, teacher Christa McAuliffe.
The four-part docuseries, about three hours total, premiered this week. Directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Junge and UC Berkeley graduate Steven Leckart, it is executive-produced by Glen Zipper and J.J Abrams through Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions.
The series takes a balanced, two-pronged approach. It is a meticulous, blow-by-blow account of how the incident happened and the investigation that followed, as remembered by engineers, managers, journalists and others who were involved. It is also a celebration of the seven lives lost, as remembered by surviving family members and friends.
The most famous of the crew was, of course, McAuliffe, who had won a much-hyped contest by NASA to put a teacher in space. The teacher-in-space program was an attempt by NASA to both reinvigorate public interest in the Space Shuttle program, which had become routine since its first launch in 1981, and reinvigorate interest from Congress, which constantly threatened the program’s funding.
But the six other crew members have wonderful stories as well. They were Ellison S. Onizuka, the first Asian American in space; Ronald McNair, the second African American in space; Judith Resnik, the second American woman in space and first Jewish person; mission specialist Gregory Jarvis; mission commander Dick Scobee; and pilot Michael J. Smith.
NASA does not come off looking good in “Challenger” — deservedly so, although it cooperated extensively with the filmmakers. The cause of the accident was the failure of rubber O-rings, the seals that helped hold together the booster rockets. Despite ongoing problems with the O-rings in other missions, and documentation showing that cold temperatures reduced their elasticity, NASA forged ahead with the Challenger launch in bitterly cold weather.
In other words, the explosion was entirely preventable. That’s why it’s incredible to see shuttle program manager Lawrence Mulloy — who famously said to engineers who recommended a delay, “My God, when do you want me to launch? Next April?” — still defend his decision to launch.
“If you don’t keep your schedule, you don’t keep your budget,” Mulloy says. “I put pressure on myself as a matter of pride.”
Later, he says he felt “no guilt” in retrospect.
Another, William Lucas, director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, says of his part in the decision to launch, “Thirty years have not changed the way I think about it at all. (Space flight) is risky. You have to take some chances. … If I were going over it with the same information I had at the time, I’d make the same decision.”
Similar arrogance and incompetence would lead to the other preventable shuttle disaster, in 2003 when Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry, killing all seven astronauts.
The most surprising appearance in “Challenger: The First Flight” is by actor Peter Billingsley. That’s right, the kid from the 1983 classic “A Christmas Story.” Billingsley, a spokesman for the young astronaut program (NASA eventually wanted to put a child in space) who wanted to become an astronaut himself, was present at the launch. The disaster affected him deeply.
The best parts of this absorbing documentary are the recollections of the crew’s surviving relatives, which give the viewer an emotional connection. The series could have used more of it, and perhaps less of the clinical, detailed investigation into NASA’s failures.
June Scobee Rodgers recalls, after hearing of her husband’s death, going into his closet and hugging his clothes.
The most moving segment is a detailed recollection, with archival photographs, of a NASA tradition: a gathering before the launch of crew and family at a coastal cabin with the astronauts and their spouses, with a shared picnic lunch and walks on the beach.
It was a quietly glorious moment of tenderness and warmth before, as President Ronald Reagan said in his nationally televised speech hours after the tragedy, “the crew waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”
ajohnson@sfchronicle.com