Challenger Disaster 30 Years Ago Today... Where Were You?

[Amazing Larry]

I was just a kid watching it on tv in my parents bedroom in my pajamas. I was sick so I didn't go to school.

Space shuttle launches were such a big deal back then. It seems that everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. Where were you?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/29/science/space/challenger-explosion-30-year-anniversary.html?_r=0
 

 

Edited January 28, 2016 by Lawrence

[Blarg]

I was asleep after working all night. My father worked on the original proposal for the shuttle back in the 70's. It was a flawed idea then but congress bought it anyway.

[arch stanton]

I was watching on the day room tv in a dorm in Okinawa. In the 3 decades of aircraft work I've done since then I've never looked at an O-ring and not thought about that explosion.

[Blarg]

Let me expand a little. My father worked for Rockwell, the prime contractor on the shuttle and knew the vehicle had limitations that would prevent it from ever reaching the goals set for the program. He never worked directly on the final project after supplying all of the navigational data for proposal.

 

Rockwell had expressed in the beginning that icing of the launch pad was an abort protocol. The developer of the O-Ring that failed had conversations with NASA the night before launch and their engineers warned that the O-Rings would probably fail under the weather conditions that day and the launch should be aborted. NASA was run by third rate politicians that were more concerned with publicity than mission success. NASA killed everyone aboard the shuttle by demanding a launch after several aborts due to weather and mechanical problems.

[Adam]

In 3rd grade I believe. Watching in class

[nate]

I was three years old so probably sitting in daycare plotting world domination

[Spirit]

I wasn't born yet.  Or driving down Harbor Blvd. on my way to college.  Forget which.

[AngelsLongBall]

I was just a kid watching it on tv in my parents bedroom in my pajamas. I was sick so I didn't go to school.

Space shuttle launches were such a big deal back then. It seems that everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. Where were you?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/29/science/space/challenger-explosion-30-year-anniversary.html?_r=0

 

I was home watching as well, I think getting ready for school.  My stomach buckled watching that...I can't imagine being Christa McAuliffe's parents watching that...and then to have the camera focus on them in the aftermath.  Just horrible

[Glen]

I was in graphic arts class, 11th grade. We were watching it live. I ended up leaving class and ditching the rest of the day. My dad worked at Edwards AFB and had taken me to see the shuttle many times.

Thanks, Reagan!

Edited January 28, 2016 by Glen

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

an undeveloped sperm cell.

[gotbeer]

At school.  Someone came in and said the shuttle had a problem.  I said, what the wheel fell off?  When I got home later in the day, it was on the news everywhere. 

 

"Go to throttle up." 

[Homebrewer]

A bunch of youngsters here, wow.

I was in Princeville, Kauai... fell asleep on the seat in the condo's bay window,  after a long night of drinking at some bar there. Remember laying there watching the TV which was still on, wondering what I was seeing exploding over and over...

Took some time to clear my head and understand what had happened.

Woke everyone else up and we all sat there stunned. It was a very somber "sitting on the beach and blankly staring" day after that. 

The Shuttle had become sort of every-day, ho-hum, no big deal.. to most people by then. It was a stark reminder of what it was really all about.

Funny thing was, I had gone out to Edwards AFB to see the Challenger land out there, on it's previous mission.

That was a hell of an experience. Always wanted to go to a launch, but never made it (I hate Florida).  

[NJHalo]

I had just bought my first car a few days prior.  A 1973 Dodge CHALLENGER!

[Angel Dog and Beer]

I was in 4th grade, sitting in class watching on the TV they teacher wheeled in. I remember at the time, and how foolish my immature thoughts were, was I thought it was weird that it looked like Christa McCaulliffe's parents didn't seem too sad at the time and it seemed like her Dad was smiling. I thought it was strange. 

 

Sad day in American history.

[IEAngelsfan]

Wow, how 30 years fly by.

 

I was working in an accounting dept. at the former company I worked for and one of my co-workers told us that the shuttle had exploded.  I remember everyone being shocked and that we couldn't wait to get home to get more info.

[ELEVEN]

I have a weird memory of that day. I was on my way to work on a low budget film (Dirty Laundry, with Frankie Valle) driving a grip/electric truck to location at the home of NBC anchorwoman Kelly Lange when it happened.

She was absolutely devastated as she had just interviewed McCauliffe and her family a few days earlier. She locked herself in her room for the day, and I remember her boyfriend Bill Friedkin (Excorcist, French Connection) coming over drunk off his ass and yelling outside her door for hours while we were rolling. Douche.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Good thread. Was just reading about this a few weeks back (because im a dork for old world events).

Most schools got to watch it that day, ours had been burglarized and the tv was stolen over the weekend. I didnt find out until after school when i asked my mom why the flags were lowered.

That video is sad as hell. So much hype and excitement over mcaulliff for the nation. For her parents to see it live (as well as the other families) is heartbreaking.

Anyone here old enough to remember apollo 13? The mission not the movie

[mrwicked]

i was in pre-school.

they were showing it on TV but I was probably in the back sniffing glue.

[fan_since79]

I was at CSULB Student Health being treated for a fractured finger that I got playing basketball. The doctor sent me home with a splint. I turned on the TV and the first thing I heard was a reporter saying "we lost all seven astronauts".

[Sam Sanchez]

7 months away from being born.

[Tank]

i was a second year teacher. had a free period to start the day and was listening to the news on the radio when it happened. we were all devastated, especially as i was hoping i could make use of some of the teaching christa mcauliffe was going to do from space (she had several science lessons planned that we were going to be able to watch). we brought the tv into my classroom and all of the jr. high kids came in to watch. we couldn't look away. i remember one of my 7th graders, an exceptionally bright girl who would go on to get a Ph.D., coming up to me and saying "so, do you still want to go up into space?" She was being smarmy as all the kids knew i was a huge fan of the space program. my answer to her was "yes, i'd go tomorrow", and i still feel that way today.

 

i was hopeful they would include a teacher on a future mission and was very disappointed that they never did.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Tank

[Blarg]

Good thread. Was just reading about this a few weeks back (because im a dork for old world events).

Most schools got to watch it that day, ours had been burglarized and the tv was stolen over the weekend. I didnt find out until after school when i asked my mom why the flags were lowered.

That video is sad as hell. So much hype and excitement over mcaulliff for the nation. For her parents to see it live (as well as the other families) is heartbreaking.

Anyone here old enough to remember apollo 13? The mission not the movie

We were on vacation in Montana and my dad got a call regarding if the navigation system would work after being shut down and frosted over. Rockwell was the main contractor for the command module while Grumman was the luner lander. There were a hell of a lot of calls that went out just minutes after the accident occurred. I guess everyone involved had to leave immediate contact numbers whenever a mission was on.

[Ray McKigney]

I was in 7th grade. Sitting in class when one of the other teachers came in and casually said to my teacher (loud enough for all the students to hear), "Did you hear? The space shuttle blew up." My teacher tried to go get a TV from the A/V room, but they were all checked out already. She came back in and told us to read a chapter in our textbook and then she promptly left us unattended for the last half hour of class to go watch the news in the teacher's lounge. I don't think anybody read the assigned chapter.

[Kevin]

Crapping my diaper or drinking some milk or both. Only 8 months old. Remember my dad telling me about it when I was younger. The explosion. Not the diaper part.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Crapping my diaper or drinking some milk or both. Only 8 months old. Remember my dad telling me about it when I was younger. The explosion. Not the diaper part.

thats two explosions.

From what i understand, they acrually survived the explosion and died on impact with the water. I believe none were conscious though