Why I studied astrodynamics

There are two stories from my childhood that provide good foreshadowing of my interest in astrodynamics. Mira told them at my graduation party, but for those who were not there:

First Story:

When I was two, we were visiting my grandmother in Florida. My mom wanted a break from her older kids (my little sister was about 6 months old), so my dad took us to watch a shuttle launch (this ended up being the only shuttle launch I saw in person). I was very excited with everyone else before the launch, and counted down with everyone. But then, as I watched the shuttle go up higher and higher in the air, it became clear that I was concerned about something and wanted to hide under the seats. My dad asked what was bothering me, and I explained that when I threw a ball in the air, it would come back down and hit me in the head. That thing over there was going up really high and looked really big, and I didn't want to get hit when it came back down.

Second Story:

When I was 5, Halley's comet was in the proper part of its orbit to be seen from Earth. I heard about this comet for several weeks as it came closer and closer. I remember being excited about this thing that was flying around the sun that only came close enough to be seen every 75 years. Then Challenger exploded. Somehow I managed to work out that the shuttle had been hit by the comet based on what the news was saying. I was very upset that the scientists at NASA had not figured out where the comet was going to be and let the shuttle fly into it. I lost interest in looking at the comet, because I was upset that it had blown up the shuttle.

And now I have completed my degree work in astrodynamics. I can make sure that spaceships will not fall on children's heads and will not fly into comets.

Just for clarification, astrodynamics is the science of determining orbits and spaceship trajectories. People who study how stars work are studying astrophysics, which is basically unrelated. As best as I can tell from what my parents have said and NASA's launch records, the shuttle launch was the first launch of Challenger, so these stories are about the first and last launches of Challenger. And I first heard about the broken O-ring that actually destroyed Challenger six years after the explosion, and was very surprised at the time to discover that the space shuttle had not been hit by a comet.