Space Suttle Challenger

[Superstreet]

January 28th, 1986


I was a sophomore in mechanical drawing class when another teacher walked in and told us the news.


God speed;

[onedef92]

I was a sophomore at Univ. of Louisville. Was just preparing to head out the door for sociology class when they announced it on "Good Morning America."

[Hoog]

Challenger was the 28th, Columbia Feb. 1.

[Hoog]

...and the Apollo 1 fire was yesterday. Bad week in the history of manned spaceflight.

[Stangkiller]

I was getting gas before heading to the Rolex 24 when my mom called absolutely distraught, I still remember that call as if it were yesterday.

I informed a guy standing next to me (I just assumed worked at KSC) he jumped in his car and headed for the cape.

Such a sad sad day.

Edit, this was for Columbia, not Challenger.

[Hoog]

I was at work, three miles from the pad. No way to describe the punch in the gut that was when the realization they weren't coming back hit...

[onedef92]

I know it's just a morbid coincidence and all, but does anyone else find it a little trippy that the astronaut screams after his heat shield falls off and the shuttle plummets through Earth's atmosphere on that William's Space Shuttle: Pinball Adventure machine?

Would love to have that joker in my basement, though. It's one of my favs....

[Hoog]

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

Edit, this was for Columbia, not Challenger.

Yes, a Sat morning. My son asked where they could be after seeing the reports. I had to tell him, it was not going to be good news.

[Bingo Fuel]

I was writing Assembler code for a proprietary network monitoring application.
All work came to a halt.
We were all either watching TV or listening to radio.
Very sad day in history.

[onedef92]

Originally Posted by Hoog

Yes, a Sat morning. My son asked where they could be after seeing the reports. I had to tell him, it was not going to be good news.

I remember that one, too. Brisk Saturday morning. Russ Mitchell broke in on CBS This Morning with the news. I was about to head to the pawn shop to trade in some audio gear.

[sasnglass77]

I remember it too.

I just walked in the kitchen and the tv was on. I poured a glass of iced tea as they launched and watched the explosion happen right on tv. I was shocked and couldn't believe what I just saw.

[dwjz06]

I was in the Army at Ft Wainwright at work.

[Superstreet]

Originally Posted by dwjz06

I was in the Army at Ft Wainwright at work.

Sure,right,wutevar!

[Dan Dlabay]

I was eating lunch at work when I heard about the tragedy. May they all rest in peace and be blessed by God.

[dwjz06]

Originally Posted by Superstreet

Sure,right,wutevar!

hey its the Army you have to work man

[Aflac]

I was in 5th grade math when Challenger happened. I was on convalescent leave for my 2nd shoulder surgery when Columbia happened.

[G8rDMD]

Challenger in '86, I was in 6th grade when they made the announcement over the school PA. We all ran outside to the parking lot and looked in the sky, we could see the smoke trails

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by G8rDMD

Challenger in '86, I was in 6th grade when they made the announcement over the school PA. We all ran outside to the parking lot and looked in the sky, we could see the smoke trails

Damn......

I was a senior in college, and saw the whole thing happen, live on TV at the pub on campus. It was spine chillingly eerie to watch.

[NEED-A-VETTE]

I was 11 at the time. We had a half day of school and I remember watching the launch with my dad. It was pretty apparent by my dad's expression and demeanor that something had gone wrong. Then he called my mom from the kitchen and we figured out pretty quickly what had happened.

When we were back at school, some of the teachers had hung up some of the newspaper articles about the incident. I remember this picture in particular, from the Detroit Free Press:

[erickpl]

Saw Challenger live on TV as a junior in high school.

Got a call from my mom when Columbia was destroyed. I was in California at that time, and she was worried about what it meant for NASA and my job...

I'm convinced doing manned space ops in January and early February is bad juju, especially launches and landings.