Where were you when the Challenger tragedy happened?

Today is the anniversary of the Challenger explosion.

I was at work. One of my co-workers who's a serious NASA fan was watching the launch when I heard him exclaim "It blew up! The shuttle blew up!" Everyone else in the office, including me, stopped what we were doing and huddled around the tv set in hushed grief. We watched the replay of the Moment, over and over again, hoping that maybe it would end differently on the next replay, like an alternate ending to a bad movie.
:mecry:

I was in the 8th grade. I remember hearing about it from one of the custodians right when we sat down for lunch. She asked a bunch of us if we heard that the space shuttle exploded. None of us heard yet. We had no idea that it was completely destroyed. I asked if the astronauts were ok, and she said they all were probably dead. We were all shocked. The next period, our language arts teacher was giving our class the details of the tragedy. One smart *** kid said he had some teachers that he wished were on that shuttle flight. I'll never forget what my teacher said. He said,"That's just sick!" and shook his head. None of us could believe that kid said that.

The whole thing was just so sad, and demoralizing. Years later I relived those feelings when the Columbia burned up upon reentry. That image of the space helmet found on the ground brought me to tears.

I remember it well.


I was off work that day.

Was in a Walgreens drugstore, and they had a television displayed (turned on) at front of the store.

People were standing around it, talking excitedly.


So i walked up to the crowd, and asked: "What Happened ?"


A Walgreens employee replied:

"The Space Shuttle just blew up".

(softly, and without emotion. He was so stunned!)


From there, i went home, and turned on my TV.


Stayed in front of it until late that night.




Glad that you posted this thread, PhotonWrangler.


Some of our younger members may be unaware of it.

_

I was a rookie in the basic firefighter class at the Mississippi Firefighter Training Academy in Pearl, Mississippi. An instructor came in and interrupted the class and told us what happened. Today I'm a lieutenant and I'll be retiring in 18 months. That was a llooooong time ago and a lot of fires and wrecks ago. Thanks for reminding us. Puts a lot of things in perspective.

I was 14 and a freshman in high school sitting in American Consumer class when the teacher wheeled in the TV cart and let us watch the replays. It was a very sad day .

Chris

I was in college. Laying around in bed debating about blowing off my class that was supposed to start in a while. The guy from the room next door knocked on my door and told me to turn on the TV, but wouldn't say why. Just as I turned it on, they were doing a replay but the newscasters were just saying "the malfunction". So when they got to the explosion on the video, I had no idea it was coming. I spent the rest of the morning watching the coverage. I was in Galveston and the TV stations were in Houston so a lot of the local coverage was out at NASA.

I was working for a Defense Contractor on Long Island, and heard it on the radio that played over the PA. There were of, 6-10 guys who worked at that company who were ex-NASA, and some knew a couple of the Astronauts. Was real quiet that afternoon

I was stationed at Luke AFB, Glendale - Arizona at the time...was driving home & heard it on the radio. Had to pull over to the side of the road to listen...

I was at school (Marie Drake Jr. High in Juneau AK. USA I believe), and saw news coverage of it on a TV set in the school's library.

Wow, brings back memories. I was in basic training at Ft. Knox, Ky. Actually was allowed to use the phone because both my Dad and brother worked on the Cape, and we lived near there. I had pictures of Shuttle debris raining down on my family. After that I always wondered if that was one of the reasons they launch over the Atlantic. I saw the first launch of both Columbia and Challenger. Very sad that they both had such tragic endings.

I was in 9th grade and I was walking downtown with some friends when we walked by a TV shop and saw the news footage. Very sad day indeed. Rest in peace brave souls.

Homeroom my freshman year of High School. I didn't believe it when I heard it. I was stunned. Later I imagined that was how people had felt when JFK was killed .

I was between jobs and watched it in real time on CNN. Major bummer!

Larry

Let's see... I had limbs, fingers, and even fingerprints, but I still had a cartilage skeleton. As for where I was, I can ask my mom tomorrow where she was at the time.

I guess I was fortunate not to really have been around for it.

I was home-schooled at the time so I was at home. Don't think we watched it live, but I do remember watching it that day on TV.

Walt175 said:

I was stunned. Later I imagined that was how people had felt when JFK was killed .

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Exactly, Walt. Exactly.

mapper66 said:

...snip...After that I always wondered if that was one of the reasons they launch over the Atlantic. I saw the first launch of both Columbia and Challenger. Very sad that they both had such tragic endings.

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YES - that is why an east coat location was chosen, so that is something went wrong, the wreckage went into the water. That's why the Northbound polar launches were supposed to be from the west coast - they would end up out over water, but from the Cape, it'd be over land

the bigger reason why you launch from the east coast is that you get to take advantage of the Earth's rotation that acts as a spring board to get you going. If you launch from the equator you can get an extra 1000 mph push. If you launch towards the west you need more fuel to overcome that extra 1000 mph

I was in the 5th grade, in La Crosse, WI - I remember coming inside from morning recess (oh, how I miss recess...) to see a tv tuned to CNN in my classroom.

I can remember them repeating the footage over and over that day - I don't remember much else, but I suspect we went home early.

Somewhere I still have glossy promo photos of the crew, but again, I can't remember if they came before or after the launch. I know our school was using the "teacher in space" program to shape a few classes, and the tragedy was quite a blow.

Short of having a family member die (which I first experienced 3 years earlier), this was easily the biggest shock to my young system.

I was a freshman in high school and we were watching the launch in the Library during lunch. It was extremely quiet and we went home early that day.