Challenger / Columbia

Dave Hackett · **Posted:** Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:59 pm

Challenger: I was in 9th grade, and lived about 17 miles from the launch pad. They would ring the fire alarms and everyone would go out and watch the launches. Then when the launch was over, they would ring the bell and everyone would return to class. On that day, it was too cold for the fire drill, but I was at lunch and we all gathered in the courtyard to watch. We knew instantly. Ron McNair had been to visit our science class about a week before, and was friends with the science teacher. We got out of school 2 hours early, and in todays environment, we would have had counsellors all over the place.

Columbia: I was on an overnight in Montreal. I remember thinking that the area it went down was an arrival in to Houston. I could not believe that nothing in the air got hit with wreckage falling.

9/11: I was on a 767 riding in the back on the way to Reno for the air races. Got put down in Kansas City. The Captain told us that the entire air traffic control system was being shut down, and I told that guy next to me that had never happened in history. When we got off the airplane, I hightailed it to the bar to see the tv and found out what had happened. My cellphone started ringing off the hook as I am an airline pilot, and no one knew for sure which flights it was yet.

I think we can technically call the shuttles warbirds. Remember many of the trips were classified payloads, and that really was military hardware being delievered. Also, many of the astronauts were military as well.

APG85 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 6:49 am

Beyond the horror of the human loss, it's a shame Columbia didn't make it into a museum... :cry:

Karpis · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:21 am

Re: Challenger......I was working third shift at the time. My wife had gone to work that morning and I was heading off to sleep as the Challenger was preparing to launch, per the news bleeps. I awoke a little later to the terrible announcement. I immediately put a tape in the VCR and now have three full tapes of the incident.

Columbia.....I was on duty at the firehouse. Unfortunately, we got a call just after the announcement and I really didn't see much of it that day.

9-11......I was on duty that day, too. We had Good Morning, America on and when they made the first announcement we all became glued to the set. Soon after the secone impact, we heard the first sonic boom that we would experience that day. I went outside and the only contrail visible was zig-zagging to the southeast. I flipped on my scanner and heard Wright-Patterson announce that they were at Defense Condition Delta. Wright-Patterson is a stone's throw away. The F-16s of the 178th TFW-- temporarily assigned to WP as their runway was being redone---were cranking up and launching rapidly. A little while later, two of them escorted one of the E-4Bs into the base. (Some thought it was AF-1).
I remember thinking to myself that this was it....ikt was actually happening. That afternoon, we heard another sonic boom. The idiots at one of the Dayton TV stations actually broke in to say a plane had hit the VA medical center. Turns out someone had seen smoke from a near-by field fire and put two-andtwo together----INCORRECTLY.

Ztex · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:55 am

Challenger; I was at working in a warehouse and heard it on the radio, didn't see it until I got home.

9/11: I was driving into work and heard the first blurb on the radio, came in and turned on the TV in the break room just in time to see the second airplane hit...complete shock...

Columbia I was sitting in my kitchen putting my shoes on to run out and watch it come over when I heard the Boom BOOM. I met my neigbor in the front yard and looked at the sky....we both knew something had gone terribly wrong...the Shuttle does not make a sound when it passes over Ft. Worth...

TAdan · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:07 am

I was too young to remember Challenger.

9/11: I was in class and someone who had just been down in the lounge came back and told the teacher that a plane hit the trade center, my first thought was that a wayward Cessna had an accident...then my teacher said "pentagon too"...I immediatly felt sick to my stomach and got the hell out of there... I'll never forget how absolutely clear the sky was, (unlimited visibility, blue sky) as soon as I got outside I could not see any aircraft. That was very eerie.

I was about 25 miles from NYC and this was about 11:00 and there was a ton of traffic headed towards the city.

Columbia: I was Snow boarding in East Texas, PA. I went inside to take a break and they were showing footage of the break up, at first I thought they were showing old Challenger footage...and then it sank in...

chico · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:53 pm

Columbia and Challenger bookend my birthday (Jan. 29th.) I vaugely remember Challenger, and some idiot talking head blathering about the shot of Christine Mccaulliff's parents. I remember at 7 years old thinking how dumb the guy that was doing the yakking was when he said that they hadn't been told there was a malfunction. I guess common folk don't have the ability to understand a giant explosion and a rain of debris unless somebody on TV tells them what's happening. :roll:

I was woke up from bed for Columbia. My girlfriend (now fiance) was shaking me tellling me that the space shuttle exploded. Half asleep, I tried telling her that that had happened years ago. She was at the cape when Columbia was on the pad.

9/11: was at work, trying to figure out why our internet connection went down. I kept trying to ping cnn, yahoo, espn. nobody's sites were responding. I called the help desk and they told us to turn on a TV.

I didn't believe that the 1st building had fallen (i missed it live.) As the 2nd one burned I asked what they thought would happen to the 2nd tower (we didn't have audio, just visual). It was badly burned and probably structurally unsound. I wondered how they'd demolish the a building that big in a downtown area. Then the building collapsed. One of my coworkers said "That answer your question smart [alick]?"

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:32 pm

Let's go back:

JFK: I was 3. According to my mom, she was in the kitchen when she heard me yelling... I was watching Bozo on WGN (Chicago) and they broke in on the broadcast, then went back to the show, which was live - I can't imagine how they finished the show, if they knew what had happened.

Apollo 1: Age 6. Don't remember the moment per se, just remember being horrified that this could happen to our astronauts - also, Ed White had filmed a PSA about education that ran for about a year after his death.

Challenger: Strange day. Had the TV on, but thought "seen one launch, you've seen 'em all" and headed to work. Dropped the car at Firestone for repairs, and heard a TV in the office mention Apollo 1... odd... Got to work - nobody there. About 20 minutes later, my co-worker's uncle called and when I asked what what was going on, he said matter-of-factly, "Shuttle blew up". Me: "You're kidding." Him: "Turn on the radio!!!" He wasn't kidding.

Columbia: Again, missed it - had a lunch date with a friend who seemed troubled. Looked up at the TV in the restaurant and saw the fragmentation, and my friend said, incredulously, "You mean you didn't KNOW?"

9-11: Just before 6 AM PDT, getting ready to leave for work. KNX (Los Angeles) on the clock radio. Announcer breaks in: "We have to go to New York, where apparently a plane has hit the World Trade Center..." I flip on the TV and see the smoking gash on the building and think, "Boy, that's going to be a big story..." I thought it was some clumsy Cessna driver. As I'm driving, the news continues (Another plane?... JETLINERS?!?)...

Oh my God - the PENTAGON???

By now I'm nearing L.A., scanning the sky nervously as an MD-80 passes over heading for LAX, wondering if it was going to turn towards downtown.

It was a very busy day at work - thank God; it kept us from breaking down completely... I kept thinking about Pearl Harbor... and what we were going to do in response to this...

Chicoartist · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:14 pm

Challenger: I was a student worker at the LSU-S (Louisiana State University in Shreveport) Library. Somebody came in and mentioned that the Shuttle exploded! Like most folks at the time, Shuttle launches were "routine", but I remembered reading in the paper that morning that this was the teacher's flight. That really affected me for some reason, maybe because she was "one of us". I came home and stuck a video in the VCR, hit record, and sat on the couch for hours watching CNN, I think it was. I still have that video tape ... need to have it xferred to DVD, I guess.

Columbia: A little more up close and personal. After her third flight, Dick Scobee (who was on the ill-fated Challenger mission a few years later) captained the 747 transport with Columbia riding shotgun on her way back to the Cape. They made a stop at Barksdale AFB, La, actually one of the Shuttle's alternate landing sites due to it's ~12,000' runway, and we pulled out our museum B-17 for some shots with Columbia in the background. Got those 'round here somewhere ... Anyway, on their way out, they taxiied right by us. I got a very close look at Columbia as it went by with the 747 wingtip about where I was standing. I was impressed with how big and how dirty Columbia was.

Oh, when she disintegrated it was a Saturday morning and I was at the IPMS Region III's convention and show in Atlanta, Ga. Everybody there was of course glued to the TV they had running there in the school we were "borrowing", and like all of you, I'm sure, we were stupefied as to what the hell had happened.

9/11: A dark, dark day in our history. I don't want to talk about where I was, because it doesn't matter. I'm just scared as all get out as to where we'll all be on the 50th anniversary of 9/11 ... and will we have won the very real war against those who are seeking our extermination?

Wade

Fouga23 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:24 pm

Challenger: Too young to remember
Columbia: I was at a local airfield. Heard on the radio she was in trouble and started looking for a tv to watch CNN. I was furious that no-one seemed too care at the airfield.
9/11: Got home from school with my dad telling me a plane hit the WTC in NY. I thought he was joking until I turned on the tv and saw for myself. I was horrified. Watched tv for hours trying to get more info.

Warhawk · **Posted:** Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:20 am

Apollo 1: I was in my crib

Challenger: I was going to tech school at the time. It was a bitterly cold day and my buddys truck broke down (Fords suck) and we walked two miles home. When we got there we heard the news.

Columbia I was at home and had just set down to have lunch and watch tv. They were just announcing that contact had been lost.

9/11 I was at work. We had just finished demolition work on several strings of guardrail and I got into the truck to get a load of crusher run gravel to get the sites prepped for installation of new rail. I turned the radio on to Imus in the morning and they were running MSNBC's audio feed.

APG85 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:57 am

Apollo 1 To young to rememeber...

Challenger In the dorm at RAF Woodbridge doing laundry. Just got off shift working HC-130's. Absolute shock...

Columbia My wife is watching the news and tells me the shuttle is overdue for its landing...overdue? What the ____ !

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Challenger / Columbia

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