Comments on: Space Shuttle Challenger

By: I remember Challenger

I remember Challenger — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:13:12 +0000

I was in Grade 12 and was asleep after writing a hefty mid-term English exam. I remember trying to get my mind around the events, thinking I was making some mistake. I kept hearing repeats of Scobee saying "GO at throttle-up", then that muted, terrible electronic sound of the ship disintegrating, and the launch announcer saying, "obviously a major malfunction." A lot of thoughts came after. I'd been fascinated by the first few televised launches of 'Columbia' in '81 and 'Challenger' in '83. I even convinced my Grade 7 science teacher to let my class watch a launch in '82. He was impressed I suggested it. It was funny how the girl students were sardonic at first about a Shuttle launch, and then were thrilled when it lifted off ... wow, so space is like adventure, and not weird nerd stuff? Wow! So I think with 'Challenger' my first reaction was, "oh no, the PROGRAM." I knew the astronauts knew the risks, accepted them, and loved their jobs. I felt bad for their families, but I also was sad knowing that the space program, all that wonderful stuff in the works, was on hold. Perhaps forever. When NASA got back on track in '88, everyone was more cynical about the Shuttle and space flight. Things got better, but NASA stopped taking ANY risk, not just unacceptable ones. (I hear today's astronauts complain about that.) Now that the Shuttle fleet will be retired in 2010 because of the Columbia accident, I sometimes wonder if the stay-at-home mentality will finally take over. We're too intelligent to stay on this planet forever. Here's to all the challengers out there ...

By: Stevie McMichael

Stevie McMichael — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:38:11 +0000

I was four at the time, watching it with my mother--I was young enough that I didn't understand what had happened right away, but I was scared because it was the first time I'd ever seen my mother cry. When what had really happened finally sank into my four-year-old brain, I cried, too.

By: DragonBrew

DragonBrew — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:59:38 +0000

I was in Mrs. T's eighth grade social studies class. We were watching the lauch on the classroom television.

First time we knew anything was wrong is when she said, to herself, "that wasn't supposed to happen."

You all know the rest.

By: BP Melvin

BP Melvin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:37:53 +0000

All of you in school make me feel old.I was a USAF aviator at the time flying a C-141 out of MAFB NJ

I was in the air on a local training sortie on the east coast at the time. Command post recalled us: had us immediately land.

I rushed home grabbed a bag, and back to an airplane diverting to provide transport for recovery/rescue/investigation I had no details at the time and never did see a news broadcast till later in the week.

I had looked into the requirements of being a shuttle crew member a while before that. It hit home.

But for the grace of God...

By: Meg

Meg — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:18:37 +0000

I was in the 9th grade. I remember going into my Physical Science class and someone told the class what happened and that they saw it on the TV in the library. I think we all went to the library and watched the news coverage of it. It just seemed so unbelieveable...

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:11:55 +0000

I was in middle school and was home at the time. I distinctly remember hoping that the astronauts have a super shielded cockpit that would allow them to drift back to earth safely. Oh, what a silly boy I was.

//It's great to read all of Neatorama readers' recollections of the event sad as it was. Great post, Miss C!

By: irvscott

irvscott — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:16:39 +0000

I was a senior at Kaukauna High School, in Kaukauna, Wisconsin at the time. I remember walking down the hall in between classes when somebody I knew came up to me and said: "What's black and white and blew all over?...the space shuttle!" Of course I didn't know just how unfunny his little joke was until I got to my next class where they had the TV on, playing those horrible scenes of the day.

By: Nicholas Dollak

Nicholas Dollak — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:56:37 +0000

Where was I? Although New Jersey is in the same time zone as Florida, the news was pretty much suppressed at my high school. I was in 12th grade, and so was an exchange student staying with us. One of my brothers was in 10th grade. They took the bus home; I rode my bike because of my allergies (kids would smoke on the bus, and the 'tards thought my allergy was funny). When I got home, the other two told me they just heard on the bus radio that the shuttle blew up. Having just spent another miserable day in high school hearing this kind of crap from jerks with no lives, I naturally assumed they were just trying to get a reaction from me, and I snorted and said, "Yeah, right." But this was my brother and Giammarco, who knew me as a person... and they reiterated what they'd just told me. "Really?" I said. "Really." I think I asked how it happened, and they said they didn't know; the kids on the bus were making too much noise. We turned on the TV and we all watched. Although I never pursued an astronaut career, I thought space travel was cool then, and I think it's cool now. I'd go up if I had the chance, just as I would have before Challenger. So I missed seeing the event in "real time." Oddly enough, I DID manage to catch (on TV) Mike Tyson biting off Evander Holyfield's ear, and the 9-11 attacks on the WTC as they happened. I'm not a sports fan, nor do I watch daytime TV; in the first instance a friend dragged me to another friend's apartment to watch the big fight; in the second instance, I had an off-day from work and turned on the TV in order to copy a video --- and there was the WTC with smoke pouring from one tower. By the end of the day, I'd donated blood and convinced my then-fiancee (who was too scared to donate) to do likewise. We were both very proud of her, and she has donated regularly since.

By: Michael Lonergan

Michael Lonergan — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:45:05 +0000

On that day, I had the flu, and was asleep on my couch. A friend of mine came over to pick me up, and asked me if I had seen the Space Shuttle explode. I immediately turned the TV on and saw them replaying it over and over. I try to follow every Shuttle Mission, and always breathe a sigh of relief when they pass that 72 second mark. In 2003, I was walking into a bowling alley with my daughters in Edmonton, AB. when we saw Columbia break up. It brought back a flood of memories watching in shock another tragedy unfolding. I don't think Space Flight will ever be risk free, and I'm sure many more lives will be lost as mankind reaches for the stars. My hat goes off to the brave men and women that dedicate their lives to exploring the "Last Frontier."

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:13:16 +0000

As it happens, I was onsite at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, MD, that day, working on a project as a Stanford Telecom contractor to NASA. In the lobby of many of the buildings on campus were (and probably still are) closed-circuit televisions on which they show messages or, in this case, the launch feed.

As the disaster unfolded, the NASA personnel and visitors clustered in the lobby where I was gasped in shock and disbelief and a soft sobbing began. The rest of the day was a daze, and I and the people around me probably only again felt like that on the morning of 11 September 2001.

By: Kirk

Kirk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:32:24 +0000

My business partner, an employee, and I were busy making transparencies and other preparations for some upcoming sales training seminars. We had turned on his giant 6ft. screen TV to watch the launch. Needless to say we were devastated when all of a sudden the Challenger exploded. We just couldn't believe what we had just seen. The rest of the day was spent watching the explosion over and over again. I particularly remember seeing Christa’s parents staring in disbelief at what used to be their daughter’s launch vehicle. They were in such shock that all they could do was hold each other while staring at the explosion. There, up in the sky, on a day that was to be the culmination of their daughter’s dreams, Christa’s parents watched her die. My heart broke for them that day.

By: werk

werk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:24:51 +0000

I was in 7th Grade, at middleschool, and I was walking down the hallway and a friend pulled me in to an 8th grade social studies teacher's room where some folks, teachers and students alike, were watching it about to lift off on the big TV strapped to the wheeled cart from the A/V center.

We all did the big count down, like a room of middleschoolers would do, then...wow.

The teacher said that everyone should go on to their next class.

By: JimH

JimH — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:44:56 +0000

I was 33 years old, on a business trip to NYC from Philly, and remember getting on the train late in the PM and opening a newspaper with a special edition, front page photo and all. It was a very cold day, and I remembered all the temperature delays that had put the launch off a couple of times. I remember thinking very clearly, "I knew it was too damn cold to launch that thing..." Little did I know how Feynman would later be able to expose the whole thing.

By: Delayne

Delayne — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:57:20 +0000

Sitting in Latin class in high school (Jay County, Indiana)......they had put it on the video feeds to the classrooms, and all watched in stunned, disbelieving silence. It was expected to be a positive, educational experience for us to watch this......definitely an educational experience of a different kind. Very rare to hear all the classrooms that quiet.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:40:09 +0000

I was in junior high and my mom was driving me back to school from an orthodontic appointment. We heard the news on a the car radio. When I got back to school I told the teacher, I don't know if she believed me or not but just then the principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker that everyone was to report to the gym for an emergency school assembly. Once everyone gathered, they told us what had happened. I don't remember anyone being overly emotional about the event. It was kind of like, wow oh really? That's too bad. But I remember thinking about it alot. Since there was a school teacher on board, a regular person not an astronaut, for some reason that made it even more real for me. I remember thinking alot about her family and what those last moments must have been like.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:16:59 +0000

I was 5, and in first grade. We all watched on TV when the shuttle went up, and we all saw when the shuttle exploded right before our very eyes. We were all pretty emotionally involved because our teacher had told us there was a teacher on the shuttle. It was sad, and I remember hearing about it for a long time afterward. My mom's a teacher, too, so I guess we took a special interest in Christa McCollough.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:41:13 +0000

I was in my Freshman year of college at Ohio State University. Exiting the campus bus on a my way to a math class I asked the bus driver to confirm what I had just heard.

By: Fran

Fran — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:59:52 +0000

I was in senior year, last semester marketing class at college. There was this one student who'd been a cut up all semester long, telling outlandish stories and lies to make every one laugh, roll their eyes, groan, etc.

He came to class that day and told us the Challenger exploded. Needless to say, NO ONE believed him. The instructor showed up, held class, and when we were dismissed, I went back to my apartment and turned on the news. I remember how heart breaking it was to watch. I skipped the rest of my classes that day.

Talk about the ultimate "Boy who cried wolf" story.

By: corey

corey — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:44:44 +0000

second grade, rickety A-V cart, eerily quiet gym.
the reality of death simultaneously sinking into a room full of primary school students. undeniably one of those "i just grew up a little" moments.

By: Padraig

Padraig — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:04:24 +0000

I was in 9th grade Geography class. I think the principal (whose office was right across our classroom) ran into the room totally flustered and whispered something into the ear of our teacher who then walked up to and turned on the TV so that we could all watch the "horrible catastrophe that had just taken place in the USA" (his words). We were actually quite shocked, although one or two kids made a snide remark. I think half of the school's males (including me) quit their dream of becoming an astronaut on that day.

By: J.P.

J.P. — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:55:24 +0000

I saw it first-hand. I was about six yrs/old, visiting my cousins down in FL. I think we were in Orlando, but I can't be sure about that, though I can say that we were close enough to the launch to see it first-hand right after it took off and went into the sky. I remember, after take-off, we went back inside to watch it on my cousin's TV; and that's where we first saw the explosion. Immediately afterwards, we went outside to see for ourselves, and, sure enough, there was a dark cloud of smoke where, presumably, the shuttle exploded. Sad day.

By: Sky

Sky — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:43:17 +0000

5th grade - Our class had been studying space exploration and astronauts in particular for at least a couple of weeks leading up to the launch. We gathered in our classroom along with a couple of other classes to see it on TV. Quite a shock, at first I don't think any of us realized what we were seeing, but it did not take long to sink in. The fact that there was a teacher on board brought it a bit closer to home for most of us, since as students we spent a majority of our time in school. I think most people from my generation can remember the name "Sharon Christa McAuliffe".

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:57:38 +0000

I was part of the team reporting on the launch from the Johnson Space Center for the National Space Institute's "Dial-a-Shuttle" service. I wasn't on mic at the time -- my colleague Patricia Jones (Dasch) was -- and the explosion stunned us both for a good couple of minutes. We were all fans of the space program, volunteering for NSI, and it hit us all hard.

A seldom-used corridor in the JSC visitor center museum was typically cordoned off for the press room during missions; it was nearly deserted at the time (although the big local stations and networks had their own private trailers), but I remember the European Broadcast Union coordinator, a normally cheerful woman named Barbara Joy, crying. Later in the day NASA staff closed off the rest of the building to the public and began setting up tables and phone lines for the media circus that was to follow.

A couple of days later, I provided commentary for the Dial-a-Shuttle coverage of the memorial service. I've never listened to my recording of that.

By the way, it's also 41 years since the Apollo 1 launch pad fire (January 27, 1967) that took the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee; and Friday February 1 will be 5 years since the Columbia disaster. This is not a happy time of year for the space program.

By: Dee Sweet-Greenwood

Dee Sweet-Greenwood — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:51:17 +0000

We had just bought a new television- my two young daughters were home from school (snow day), my husband
had the day off. We did not have cable, so my husband stood there fiddling with the rabbit ears- the first thing we heard was "Challenger, go for throttle up" from the space center- we got the picture tuned just in time to see the shuttle explode....I remember getting angry when they just kept showing the Y in the sky over and over and over......

By: Ras

Ras — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:47:02 +0000

I was in kindergarten in Rome, GA. I can remember the teacher quickly shutting off the TV and trying to remain calm and have us do something else. We were all wondering what had just happened. I didn't really find out until my mom picked me up from school that day and told me that they were all dead. It was the first time that I can remember understanding what death meant.

By: Bearded Jon

Bearded Jon — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:58:57 +0000

It was my Senior year in H.S. and Swing Choir had just started. Somebody came in and told us what happened so we went next door to the ROTC room (yes, ROTC was in Band Hall) because they had a television and much like 9/11 we watched the video over and over and over for an entire class period. It was perhaps more poigniant for our school because one of our science teachers, Mrs. Heinrich, was one of the top 10 finalists for teacher in space. It could easily have been her.

By: Geekazoid

Geekazoid — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:01:07 +0000

I was in history class as a junior, or walking into history class when the teacher broke the news (I believe she had the t.v. running). At that time it was a horrible and tragic thing.

By: Kaiti

Kaiti — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:20:29 +0000

I was in 6th grade, and for some reason we were out of school that day, so I was at home, helping my Mom clean the house. My parents and I were heading to Orlando a few days later, as my Dad had some meetings down there and Mom & I were going with him for a quick vacation.

We'd totally forgotten there was a launch that day until my friend Kirk came running over with the news, "The space shuttle blew up!" "What? No way!" Then we turned on the TV and saw the replay. A few days later, we were in Florida and took a tour of Kennedy Space Center, but of course it was a very abbreviated tour.

A couple years later I found out that my cousin, a long-time NASA contractor, was working in launch control that day. A very rough day, I imagine.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:44:51 +0000

I was standing in my front yard in Melbourne, Florida (Space Coast) watching in disbelief as the Challenger exploded right before my eyes. I was using binoculars at the time. I knew something went wrong. I had seen dozens rocket launches live since the Apollo missions. I grew up wanting to go into space. My neighbor accross the street used to put the Apollo astronuts into their spacesuits before launch. My next door neighbor still works at Kennedy Space Center. I just couldn't beleive it. From my vantage point, it looked like one of the boosters was going the wrong way after separation. I kept waiting for the Orbiter and big fuel tank to come cruising out of that cloud of smoke. But, that didn't happen. I watched a large piece fall out of the sky as long as I could. I beleive it was the crew cabin still intact. It fell for what seemed like forever. I went inside to watch the replay on TV. The mission control announcer was in shock. I couldn't beleive what I had just seen. I kept thinking that this just didn't happen. I got a phone call from a friend in Atlanta, Georiga who used to live in Melbourne, FL. He asked me what the heck happened! I told him what I saw and speculated that the crew cabin of the orbiter was designed to come down in one piece in an emergency. Sadly I was mistaken. It was very hard for all the Space Ccoast residents that day. We all have family and friends that work at KSC or support their mission. My father worked at Harris Corp., Palm Bay, FL and worked on the TDRS satelite the Challenger was carrying that grim day. I pray that they will be remembered as the brave souls they were and we never forget the space travel is still inherently dangerous. But that should not keep us from going back to the Moon and on to Mars. My son has expressed intrest in going into space. Who knows, mabey someday....

By: Mike, Cincinnati OH

Mike, Cincinnati OH — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:08:27 +0000

I was in the 3rd grade and we were all in the gym. The school had set up T.V.'s for everyone in the gym to watch the launch. They had set up a lot of neat reports from the 5th graders and there was even a guy who was talking about space camp... Then the shuttle picture pre-launch came on the tv's. everyone was watching, launch... a few moments later, the all to familiar explosion and the two side strapped solid rockets peeling away debris falling... they cut the power to the tv's, it was very quiet for awhile. The principle came out and said that something had gone terribly wrong and that we were supposed to go back to our rooms, that he would tell us later on what happened. Later on that day, he came to our room and told us that they; the space su exploded. a very dark day indeed for my childhood.