Phillip Dombrowski taught earth science in Newington for 23 years. One of the most exciting moments of that time was when he had the chance to ride on the Challenger in 1986.
He jumped at the chance to apply for NASA's "Teacher in Space" program.
"I got all of the necessary application forms and it was a terribly involved application and that was in the days when it was a typewriter," he said during an interview at his home Thursday.
As a child, Dombrowski became enamored by anything and everything that involved space. His parents bought him his first telescope that he would use outside regardless of the weather.
"I would stand outside in the snow, with boots that didn’t fit, my feet were freezing and I was just in love with astro, the sky and what it could present to me.”
He was eventually selected as the third alternate for the state of Connecticut's entry into the program. Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from Massachusetts who worked in New Hampshire was eventually selected.
Dombrowski doesn't have any illusions about the prospects of making it into space.
"There were people from every state selected as alternates. A third alternate from Connecticut? You’re not going anywhere.”
On the day of the Challenger launch, Dombrowski had a television set up in his classroom to watch the events with his students. They knew he had applied for the seat the McAuliffe occupied.
“There was nothing you could say. The whole thing went to smithereens because of the cold weather that morning down in Florida. They had never had such a heavy freeze. It was a showstopper in the effect that I looked at my class and my class looked at me and there’s nothing that can be said.”
Dombrowski had one thought following the explosion:"That could have been me."
He says hindsight is 20/20 is happy he never made it on board.
He said the accident didn't change his view of NASA or the space program. Today, Dombrowski wishes the United States still sent astronauts into space, and is disappointed country now depends on others to get Americans into orbit.
“Space is so doable now and it’s a political thing and to lose that ability to travel in space and rely on the goodwill of the Russians, that’s a sad statement in my opinion.”
