Challenger: 30 years today

[mjr]

Or perhaps we were watching the news reports of it after it happened....

This is probably what you saw. I think the video was amateur videographers. The live broadcast part is usually the landing in Cape Canaveral.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I was 10; 5th grade. But for some reason I always picture being in my third grade classroom when I think of it. I know they told us about it at school, though I didn't see any footage until later on the evening news.

[Victory Sabre]

I couldn't tell you the room number, but were I to take you to my first high school, I could walk you right to that room. In my mind can see it and Mr. S's face as clearly as any who saw the Challenger explode that day can see it in their minds. And of course I can see that in my mind clear as day as well.

Same here, I could easily find the room at the middle school, even 30 years later.

Another thing I remember from that day, is that I heard about how cold it was, and had a feeling that the cold weather had a hand in the disaster. I was right.

[dalesys]

I remember that day...

I also remember my 2nd cousins dad (Don Lind) at a family reunion telling how he found out his flight on Challenger (STS-51B) was within 0.3 seconds of doing the same thing.

[mjr]

I remember that day...

I also remember my 2nd cousins dad (Don Lind) at a family reunion telling how he found out his flight on Challenger (STS-51B) was within 0.3 seconds of doing the same thing.

I actually saw in a documentary where aluminum slag had originally "sealed" the hole, but the Stack was hit by a very strong crosswind that jarred the slag loose. Researchers have speculated that had the Stack not been hit by the crosswind, Challenger may have made it into space. The vehicle broke up at 73 seconds. SRB SEP happens at 126 seconds...

[Nunavut Pants]

I was between classes at college. I walked into the Union, and all the students were talking about it. I walked into the TV lounge and watched the replay. My heart was in my throat; I was sure it was the end of the space program.

For the Columbia, I was actually working for NASA. I was visiting my uncle and saw the footage there, before they understood what had happened. When I saw multiple trails, I knew pretty much what had happened...

[Jester]

For the Columbia, I was actually working for NASA.

What did you do for NASA?

[MoonCat]

Damn, I'm older than a lot of you folks...

I was at work, went to a friend's desk because we were about to go to lunch, and she told me "The shuttle blew up." I said WHAT? She said it again and again I just said WHAT? I just couldn't process it. Was in a kind of shock the rest of the day.

On the bus on the way home, everybody on the bus was talking about it, when suddenly the bus hit a bump and the wheels came down really hard with a loud BANG! Literally everybody on the bus twitched and went quiet. It was weird; intellectually, we all knew nothing bad had happened to the bus, but emotionally we were all so edgy that it scared us.

[Mikkel]

Damn, I'm older than a lot of you folks...

I had just come home from work and watched the news with my daughter .
As a Dane it may not have hit me that hard at once, but the delay of space exploration hit the whole world.
I wonder how far back the human race was ultimately set back by a faulty O-ring.

[Nunavut Pants]

What did you do for NASA?

Programming, mostly graphics, for a couple of flight simulators. And then for air traffic simulations.

[Jester]

Programming, mostly graphics, for a couple of flight simulators. And then for air traffic simulations.

Jealousy and envy are ugly. Right now I am very ugly.

[protege]

I remember when the Challenger blew up. I was in 4th grade at the time. I didn't see it happen live, but I do remember that one of the teachers across the hall heard it on her radio. We didn't go outside for recess that day, so everyone was inside. Lots of sad faces on my classmates

Oh, and my uncle actually works for NASA. He's an artist, and designed several of their flight patches. I don't remember if he did the ones for that mission, but he was very upset when that happened.

[Chromatix]

"Nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard Feynman

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I was in HS back then . . . and was home sick (bronchitis that a short time later turned into pneumonia and caused me to miss the entire semester, but I digress) and was curled up in Grandma's big bed, watching the launch live on tv while she was in her recliner near the tv, with Pamperre (our big black cat) in her lap.

IIRC the news networks were covering the disaster live all day . . . I don't recall watching any of the regular programs that day - only nonstop coverage of what happened at the Cape.

[CyberLurch]

I was an enlisted man aboard a Navy amphibious assault ship off the coast of North Carolina, doing flight exercises with squadrons of Marine helicopters and AV-8B Harriers in preparation for an upcoming deployment to the Mediterranean. The news came during a lull in flight ops, as my flight deck fuels crew were all huddled around a small portable television watching the launch... and the subsequent events.

Within minutes the skipper announced on the 1MC (the ship's public address system) that we had been ordered to assist in the S&R effort, and we proceeded at maximum speed to the search area.

A destroyer (USS Dewey, IIRC) had located a conical-shaped object, which I believe was part of the nose cone of one of the launch vehicle's solid rocket boosters, but lacked the ability to bring it aboard. We were ordered in to pluck it from the ocean and transport it to Florida. We were ordered to not discuss what we had seen with ANYBODY when we went ashore.

I remember distinctly the shock, horror, denial, and depression that set in as they rolled the footage over and over again. But what I remember very vividly was how incredibly fast the crass jokes began to circulate.