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Themes: Faith D.A. What launched a high school school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire to international headlines? What astronomical thing did she do to create such attention?
These were the requirements: She must be an American citizen, have taught five years in a classroom, suffer no illness threatening safety. Her vision had to be correctable to 20/40, she must hear a whisper at three feet, and her blood pressure could be no higher than 160/100-nothing extraordinary. In her words, she found it "unbelievable" that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had chosen her from a group of nearly 11,500 applicants to become the first civilian in space. NASA saw how much faith she had in them, as well as her desire to be a "good symbol for all American teachers".
She had no special training in science, math, computer or aeronautics. She taught Social Studies. Where would she get the power to do this? Her sincere desire and good faith weren't enough to put her into orbit. No, gravity requires a little more. More like two solid rocket boosters and a large external tank, holding more than three and a half million pounds of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. That would probably do it.
All seven members of the crew had great faith in NASA's ability. After all, mission 51-L would be the tenth voyage of the Challenger, one of four shuttles in NASA's program. It was tried and seemed true. But, tragically, it was not fool-proof. On, Tuesday, January 28, 1986, an unusually cold morning for Florida's Kennedy Space Center, Christa McAuliffe cheerfully stepped aboard the flight that would end her life. At 11:39 a.m., 74 seconds after take off, the shuttle that was to carry the first civilian into space exploded in a tremendous blast of flame and smoke. The explanation was that o-rings placed between parts of the booster rockets had not worked because of the cold. NASA didn't understand that there was a problem that serious.
But what of Christa McAuliffe? What of her faith and desire? Weren't they the right stuff to see her through? They may have won her fame, but they did not have the power to save her life. Faith is only as strong as what you put your faith in. Unlike the promise given to Abraham long ago, what NASA had promised, they were not able to perform. The disappointment and sadness that resulted are now a part of history.
Abraham launched out into the unknown, because he believed that God had the power to keep His promise, and God did. God was the faithful One. Can we trust in God's power to land us safely in heaven? On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, defeated the power of sin. He also has power over death, He proved that when He rose from the grave. His mission of salvation has been accomplished. It has successfully satisfied God. All that is left for us is to be like Abraham, and simply believe God's promise. God will be faithful and keep His word.
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Shelly McKenna
