Dream Job
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Laura Wisniewski, RN
Laura Wisniewski RN is an educator, speaker and writer with 25 years of front line nursing experience. Her company, Nursing Voice Communications, provides empowering, solution-oriented presentations on nursing workforce issues. Her articles encourage and challenge nurses to improve healthcare.
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Laura Wisniewski, Nursing Voice
Prior to 1985 I had spent my nursing career in the cloistered environment of the hospital. I was about to be given the opportunity of a lifetime—to work at the Occupational Health Facility at the John F. Kennedy Space Center. This opportunity came in the form of visitor to my unit. My patient was a young woman in her twenties who had fractured her cervical spine at the level of C4. She had survived a serious motor vehicle accident, escaping respiratory failure and paralysis. Her extensive recovery included wearing a halo brace. The visitor was her mother.
At the time I was very young and idealistic, perhaps a little too chatty at times. It didn’t take long to realize by the questions about her daughter’s care, that mom was a nurse. Most nurses can spot each other at twenty paces. After my suspicion was verified I inquired, “Where do you work?” She replied, “I am the director of nursing at the Space Center.” A professional innocent, I proceeded to ask, “How much money do nurses make out there?” After she told me, I had to sit down. As a single mother of two young children I became very interested in the fact that they were hiring.
Simply knowing someone was not enough to land the job. There were a series of interviews and background security checks. It took several months before I was offered a position. I later discovered that speed was normal for anything to do with the government. Possibly not the most qualified candidate—what I lacked in experience I made up for in enthusiasm. The shuttle program was still in its glory days. My adventure was just about to begin.
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is like a small city with its own fire department and ambulances. There are three separate medical facilities complete with doctors, dozens of nurses, medical technicians, paramedics and support staff. Medical services are provided for both employees and visitors. It is a beehive of activity. I was meeting interesting people from all over the world and everyday was an incredible learning experience.
My orientation began with a VIP tour. Our guide recounted the history of the center and space program. He told stories of how ghosts of the three Apollo1 astronauts, killed in a fire were believed to haunt the Cape Canaveral Air Force Medical Facility. We visited the Vertical Assembly Building, Mission Control and launch pads. Our tour took us under the scaffolding supporting the shuttle Atlantis while technicians repaired the heat resistant tiles on her belly. I instantly became enamored with my new workplace. It was like living in a dream.
The most exciting aspect of my job was shuttle launch standby. As part of the medical team we provided onsite support to visitors at launch viewing areas. I had already witnessed many exciting launches from our front yard in Merritt Island; however it wasn’t until I started working at the Space Center that I truly experienced one. The experience is visceral. The anticipation…the roar and vibration of the engines…and lift off… is literally out of this world.
On the morning of January 28, 1986 the sky was clear and crisp. Visibility was perfect. The temperature was 36 degrees, colder than the previous three days that the mission had been cancelled due to cold weather. I expected the mission to be scrubbed again. Just prior to the launch all non essential work stopped. Crowds began to gather outside of the office buildings and all eyes were fixed upon the launch pad. On this particular day the viewing stands were especially full with bus loads of school children who had come to see the first teacher in space.
From where I was standing I had an excellent view of the shuttle Challenger majestically perched upon the launch pad. It was her tenth mission. She was magnificent! The count down was on… 5…4…3…2…1…lift-off. Adrenaline surged through my body as she cleared the launch pad. All eyes skyward, the crowd turned in unison to track her as she shot across the heavens.
Suddenly something seemed terribly wrong! Everything happened so quickly…there was fire, smoke and a thunderous booming sound. Seventy-three seconds after lift-off the shuttle Challenger exploded. It was the most horrific sight I had ever witnessed. My brain could not immediately register what my eyes had seen. I stood there frozen for what seemed like an eternity until someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me to go back into the clinic. The dream had ended.
On the way home from work I stopped by my friend Allen’s apartment. A fellow Space Center employee and shuttle fan he routinely programmed his VCR to record all of the launches. When I arrived Allen was perched on the edge on his sofa playing the recording of the disaster over and over again. He was trapped in an endless loop. He did not want to be consoled. Like most employees of the Space Center it was much more than a job to him, it was like family and the shuttles their children.
The real story is about the crew members that were lost that day. I’m quite sure that for Commander Dick Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe this had been their dream job. How exciting the space program must have seemed to them. For a time it was an honor to share that dream with them.
That evening President Reagan had the following to say as his addressed the nation and the world: “The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us in the way in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bounds of Earth and touched the face of God.”
