Manned spaceflight is dangerous and dramatic.
When an ambitious mission succeeds, as did the moon-landing flight of Apollo 11, astronauts like me are hailed as triumphant national heroes for doing our jobs, and the flight directors, contractors and engineers responsible for the success are applauded as visionary geniuses. He had splendid raw material. Dick Scobee rose through the ranks by hard work and determination to command the shuttle. Black astronaut Ron McNair came from the Jim Crow South to earn a doctorate in physics. Judy Resnik excelled in the traditional male domain of electrical engineering and teacher Christa McAuliffe won a rigorous national competition to gain her seat on the shuttle.