Remembering the Challenger Disaster

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Where were you when you heard about the Challenger disaster?

The mainstream media has the historic reminiscences covered, so I thought I'd offer my version of what so many are discussing today in their homes and workplaces: where they were shortly before noon on Jan. 28, 1986, the day America lost seven astronauts to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Click to expand...
 
I was on my way to history class, where we were greeted by a tv, went "WTH is that?" collectively as a class, then watched the coverage for the next 45 min...

With Chernobyl three months away, 1986 was quite the year...
 
My anthropology class. One teacher came in and told my teacher what happened. The shocked looks on their faces concerned us all. Then they turned on the TV and we all saw it. One of their own had died.
 
Would have been five and a half at the time so I was probably at school when it happened.
 
elementary school for me.

Saw on the news this morning and the jag offs were so nice to show a video of the whole event again, just so we wouldn't forget lets just watch the shuttle explode... oh hey, 10 year 9-11 anniversary... in case you forgot lets show that whole event happen again... day your mom died? Well fuck me we have video footage of that how would you like to see?
 
I was in 9th Grade Science class At Riser Jr. high. Our teacher let us watch the launch on television and it happened right there. The things the conspiracy rumor mills were churning out then after that happened. Like 9/11 I will never forget.
 
On my way to my AP physics class during my senior year in high school. Figured it might just be the end of us being truly ambitious about manned space travel during my lifetime in the US. It pretty much was...

We watched the news coverage the entire class. Our consensus was somebody didn't listen to the warning some engineer had made about it being the coldest temperature at which a launch had been attempted, when we frame by framed some of the footage and saw the solid booster fail.
 
I was with my kindergarten class watching the launch (the teachers were all circle jerking each other over a school teacher being on board). I Didn't understand at the time what had happened, but knew it was bad.
 
I was sick from school that day and was at home watching it live on TV. I ran upstairs tell my mom and she thought I was talking nonsense. Tragic day.
 
I was in fourth grade class, I can remember the teachers crying and wondering why, and then they told us.
 
bacon said:
Was watching transformers and was mad that they cut away from it to cover it.
Click to expand...


hahah... I am pretty sure I was a piss ant little sperm cell so I don't remember at that exact time. But I saw the video... I am pretty sure the people felt the same way I did (maybe a little bit less scared) when 9/11 happened when I was in computer class. That's all I think of when I hear about this Challanger episode, and what I instantly thought reading the title of this thread.
 
Although 8 at the time and living in the UK I do remember it being on the news, I think just as tragic was the lessons learned after it were then forgotten again with another tragic result.
 
I was watching and waiting for the delayed launch.

So I drove down to the corner store for milk, and saw it explode while driving down the highway.

Though I didn't realize it, or wouldn't, at the time. I thought it was a plane from the Martin County Airport, or anything else.

So I get back home, and, well.

RIP.
 
I was sitting in the break room at my job watching the launch on the TV. I saw it explode and it was surreal. I was like; 'Did I just see a space shuttle blow up? OMG!!!' I was horrified and confused at the same time.
 
I was at the hospital waiting for yet another test, I spent way too much time there as a kid. I can distinctly remember sitting in the waiting room where they were showing it live and no one really knowing what was going on.

I also can remember exactly where I was when the Columbia blew up. I was driving East on 101 in Phoenix near the Cave Creek exit. The radio cut over to announce the news.

May they all rest in piece.
 
I was 4 years old and haven't the faintest idea where I was besides a general geographic location and a shiny red button.

I do understand what the Challenger disaster represents, the fact that a civilian died effected the space program to this day, billions more in safety and scrubbed launches. Still, the shuttle program has an impressive safety record considering only 2 lost (Challenger and Colombia) after how many years in operation past when they were suppose to be decommissioned.
 
I still remember that day. My mother just gave birth to my baby sister and the challenger launch was on the TV in recovery room. I can't really remember the first time I saw my other siblings, but those combined events solidified the moment in my mind.
 
Weird. My little sister was born on that day too. I was only 6 at the time so I don't remember where I was exactly.
 
Was home from school because of a snow day. Was watching the shuttle launch on tv. It went very wrong. I even remember drawing some pictures afterward of the tragedy.
 
Was watching it at home and turned on the VCR not 1 minute into the coverage, they hadn't even said what it was at that point (ABC coverage with Peter Jennings reporting) - something just told me to hit record so I did.

A few minutes later they showed the footage of the launch and before it even blew up I was pointing at the TV screen right where those flames were and I started to say "That's not supposed to be doi---" and then it just exploded before I could even finish the sentence. Was pretty shocking stuff to see it happen that way. Let the VCR record till the tape ran out, think I still have that recording in storage someplace, actually.

My future Wife turned 10 years old on that day (today's her 34th birthday, we just got home from being out for dinner, shopping). She was in school watching the launch live - truly live because the school had a feed direct from NASA - and said she cried along with her classmates (it was a school for the deaf) for hours afterward, they let the school out early that day.

Was a sad day for NASA and the US, and the world as well. Was in Las Vegas (where I am once again) at the time Columbia burned up on re-entry years past in 2003 - I actually saw the trail across the atmosphere when it happened, then 20 minutes later caught the news broadcast that it had just basically disintegrated because of that tile issue.

Another sad day, but life goes on...
 
I was sitting in the bowling alley at Ft Wainwright Alaska, eating a cheeseburger and deep fried mushrooms. was there TDY for cold weather testing of some new equipment the Army was thinking of buying.

Amazing how some things just stick in your head that way, burned forever into memory people say that life flashes before their eyes at death, well, no thanks most of the shit that I remember well, is stuff I would like to forget.
 
I was working at a hospital in Orlando.
One of my co-workers had family who worked at Canaveral.
A sad day.
 
I was watching the launch in my third grade classroom. After the initial shock, my teacher left the room and did not come back for the rest of the week; she was friends with Christa McAuliffe and had been part of the initial teacher selection process with her but didn't make the cut for Round 2.

Looking back, part of me believes that day was the day America's imagination died. We stopped watching shuttle launches in school after that.
 
I had been snowed out from work that day (home building), and was hanging out with my mother watching the launch. It was really hard for my then 18 year old brain to process what had just happened. The denial part of me was refusing to believe what was happening. I was trying to convince my self it was just part of a booster separation or something. I called my mother into the room and she immediately started crying. It was a terrible day.
 
It is one of my worst days. Such a tremendous blow to the country, science and lifes worth living. Very upsetting.
 
Like a few others, I was home sick (Hung Over from drinking to much Jack at an Aerosmith concert the night before). I remember waking up on the couch, never made it to bed, turned on the TV to watch the launch only to witness the explosion. What a sinking feeling to witness such tragedy as it is happening.
 
I was about 7 months old only on that day.

I only learned about it during the mid 90's, reading about it on a educational magazine Quest
 
I was just over 7 years old and I remember watching it in elementary school class. I don't recall exactly how the teacher reacted, but I vaguely remember them turning the tv off right after it happened.
 
I had slept very late that day, got up around 12 or 1. Drove to a barbershop. everybody had their lights on. There I saw them replaying the explosion on the news over and over. everybody was both shocked and riveted. our shuttles had been infallible up until that point...
 
As terrible as that day was. It left an indelible mark on those of us who were old enough to remember this sad event. I wonder why no seems to lament about the February 2003 shuttle disaster? The one that disintegrated over Texas. There were no survivors.

Is it because there wasn't a teacher/civilian on board? I wonder if the nation of Israel looks back in great sadness because they lost their first astronaut?
 
I had a high school teacher who was permanently scarred by that disaster. He was the backup scientist scheduled to go on that flight in case the main scientist couldn't manage it for some reason.
 
RangerXML said:
I was 4 years old and haven't the faintest idea where I was besides a general geographic location and a shiny red button.

I do understand what the Challenger disaster represents, the fact that a civilian died effected the space program to this day, billions more in safety and scrubbed launches. Still, the shuttle program has an impressive safety record considering only 2 lost (Challenger and Colombia) after how many years in operation past when they were suppose to be decommissioned.
Click to expand...

i was around that age as well.



impressive safety record, until you consider both losses were predictable and preventable.


i have a particular fascination with this because years later in 2003, i would attend a speech given by one of the engineers of the faulty rocket boosters and how they tried to stop the launch. just a few weeks later, the columbia broke up on reentry.


kinda stuck with me
 
I was in third grade and we were getting ready into lessons and suddenly the PA system hit, the gasp of shock and cold chill went through all of us, and that was the end of school for the day. The entire elementary school sat in the main area (small school) and just watched the TV until picked up by parents.

It's like 9-11 later on, I'll never forget it or any detail of it. Hard to believe in some ways it was that long ago and then again it isn't.
 
I was in 3rd grade. Teacher brought her own TV in was going to show the launch and she seemed really proud. She talked about it all week with a huge smile. We all cheered at watching a rocket take off and started discussing astronauts and rockets and then the explosion happened. My teacher let out an audible and brief shriek before covering her mouth and crying. The teacher next door came over and pulled her out of the classroom.. along with the few scared young kids that were crying too. We had a sub for the rest of the day and had a few councilors address the class because of her reaction and witnessing a tragedy. It was sad..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top