On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds after launch at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. Executive Producer and Host of SCETV’s Carolina Journal, Tom Fowler grasped the immediacy of the moment and brought the breaking news about the Space Shuttle Challenger to South Carolina. The ETV team, with the help of the Sumter regional station were able to provide coverage of the tragic explosion. Pilot Michael Smith, fellow Carolinian born in Beaufort, North Carolina and mission specialist Ron E. McNair, 35 years old, physicist and graduate of Carver High School in Lake City, South Carolina were lost along with commander Francis R. Scobee, payload specialists Christa McAuliffe and Gregory B. Jarvis, and mission specialist Ellison S. Onizuka.
This special program was dedicated to Ronald McNair and included extensive archival footage from the University of South Carolina and the SCETV interview of McNair on Job Man Caravan. Interviews revealed his love and passion for being an astronaut, with all the risks it entailed.
The programming concluded with on the street comments and reactions of South Carolinians.
Side Notes:
- 35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her Crew – NASA
- The Crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L Mission
- Dr. Ronald McNair: A Famous Black Astronaut, Physicist, and Baha’i
- MIT Black History Ron McNair plays sax in space, 1984
- The Tragic Triumph of the World’s Largest Concert - Jean-Michel Jarre and Ron McNair collaborate on music. The saxophonist had worked with Jarre to compose a special piece that was meant to link Earth and space for a moment of celebration; but the piece and the concert instead took on a totally different meaning. The final track on Rendez-Vous, "Last Rendez-Vous," has the subtitle "Ron's Piece."
- McNair was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004, along with all crew members lost in the Challenger and Columbia disasters.
- Ronald E. McNair and Perseverance - A child prodigy, McNair was an accomplished musician, physicist, and fifth-degree black-belt karate champion. He was also first in his family to attend college, only the second African American in space, and the namesake of TRIO’s Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program.
- The Man Who Reached for the Stars
- Tom Fowler retired from SC ETV and SC Public Radio, where he had served as Senior VP. Prior to his career at South Carolina ETV, Tom had been an anchor at WIS TV.
