Today in 1986

[mustangdriver]

At 1139 EST we lost the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Take a moment and remember them today.

[the330thbg]

Wow.., 24 years.., good grief.., i remember I was pulling up to a teller window at my Savings & Loan (remember any of those?) and it came on the radio.

[aeroeng]

I was at Parks College in Cahokia when it happened. They put TV's in the student center so we could follow the details.

[Holedigger]

Heard it on the radio, when they said "Something Wrong" ran outside and my chin hit the ground. From the smoke pattern, from 110 miles away, I knew it was a catastrophic failure. Indeed a terrible day. My hat is off to the ladies and gents who ride those monsters into the ether. My thoughts with those left behind that dreadful day.

[Dave Hackett]

I was at Central Jr. High in Melbourne, Fl. For every launch, Brevard County Schools rang the fire alarm and all the students dutifully exited the buildings to watch the launches. When the shuttle was gone from view, they rang the school bell and everyone returned to class. It was very rare for the fire alarm to not be sounded for a launch, but it was deemed too cold, and as it was lunch time, no fire alarm. I was however at lunch, and was outside to watch the shot. There was no mistaking what had happened.

As a side note, one of the coolest parts of the public ed system in Brevard county was the fact that a great many of the parents worked for KSC. As such, NASA required public appearances for educational reasons at schools in Brevard county. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of my life science teacher, but he and Ron McNair had gone to school together so we got a visit the week before from him. School stopped for the day after the explosion. The few TVs in the school were turned on and we were all crammed into rooms to see what was on. We all left school early that day and in what at the time seemed weird, counsellors were made available after that if anyone felt they needed one (nowadays, the principal farts and there is a counsellor available!)

It took many years for the area to recover from Challenger. I still get goose bumps when one goes up, and for some reason, about a minute after lift off, I find myself still holding my breath. Will be a very sad day when the rumble of the Shuttle stops (not to mention those little twin cracks when she comes home!)

dave

[tom d. friedman]

i was 25 years old when the disaster happened. i was assistant store manager for hills department stores if anyone remembers that chain. i had just returned from lunch & a large group of customers & my employees were gathered in the electronics dept to watch the launch. it was company policy that all tv displays be on & they were all on the shuttle launch. when it blew up all the viewers were saying what the heck???? i knew what happened & said so, & some big mouth remarked to me that my joke was not funny. i told her it was no joke, & then a few minutes later reality sunk in to all present. it was quite a sorry scene. i went & told 1 of my fellow managers what happened & he thought i was joking too!! i saved the roanoke newspaper w/ the headlines the following day for my daughter who was born 3 weeks prior. i should give her that soon.

[mustangdriver]

At the time I was 6 years old. Nothing that big had ever happened. The Shuttle is one of my earliest memories. I was home with my mom and was having a PB&J. We were watching the launch, and now the call of "Challenger you are go for throttle up" will always echo of what came next. I was only six, but I knew whatever it was that had taken place was not normal. My mom gasped then cried. My father came home from work that night, and my uncle came down to our house. Everyone was glued to the TV.

[mustangdriver]

As a testament to the crews that fly the shuttle. "Scobee fought for any and every edge to survive. he flew that ship without wings all the way down...they were alive."-Robert Overmyer, NASA lead investigator.

[Holedigger]

It is another of those "Where were you when" moments. Standing there in the parking lot at work in Dunedin FL, watching the debris fall from the sky, knowing that the crew was probably NOT going to survive that explosion. A very emotional day for sure.

Last edited by Holedigger on Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jack Cook]

In boot camp at San Diego marching on the grinder on the NTC side of the base.

[lestweforget]

I remember that day well. I had a day of high school, and was watching the launch live on TV. Launches still got live coverage over here then. I will never forget it, it was obvious that it was catastrophic the moment it happened. Horrible. And to see the look on Christa McAuliffe's parents faces, something that has been replayed so many times, is still haunting.
I don't know if any of you have heard of the French musician Jean Michel Jarre. I was a fan at the time, and have since got to see him in concert a couple of times. His shows are mind blowing. At the time, he was recording a new album, and Ron McNair was going to record the saxaphone part of it while orbiting in Challenger. This would have been the first original piece of music recorded in space. After the accident, the song was renamed Ron's Piece in his honour. Shortly afterwards, Jarre played a concert in downtown Houston, watched by a live audience in the region of one and a half million people. I have posted a link to it. Watch it if you want, I think it is a lovely tribute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL3oQNb4-1U

[spookythecat]

I was 9 and in elementary school. We were all gathered in the library to watch. I still have my copy of the Oshkosh Northwestern that came out the next day.

[Jesse C.]

My sister got up early that day because she could not sleep and was watchig the live feed of the launch and saw the telecast of it happening. She woke us all up to tell us something bad happened to the shuttle.

When I pulled up to school and told some friends about they thought I was making it up! Most did not have a clue to what was going on until class started and everyone was told about it.

[Nathan]

I was born 2 days after does that count?

[Holedigger]

The son of my boss at that time was working for Martin Marietta in California and when he showed up to work was blocked by a camera crew shoving a camera and mic in his face asking his opinion of what went wrong. He hadn't even heard of the disaster yet. Very unpleasant way to start the day.