...slipped the surly bonds...

[dacman]

Jan 28, 1986..sitting in a classroom with all my classmates, watching TV as the teacher goes into space when it all goes so horribly wrong. I can't believe it's been TWENTY YEARS.

God rest ye brave travellers.

edit: Challenger -- 26 years.
Apollo 1 -- 45 years.
Columbia -- 9 years.

[dacman]

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo1_crew.jpg

Apollo 1 (204) crew

[dacman]

http://dssresources.com/cases/spaceshuttlechallenger/ShuttleChalleng_crew_portrait.jpg

Challenger crew

[dacman]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/columbia-crew-browse.jpg

Columbia crew

[Draft Dodger]

hmmm, that means 20 years ago I was home from high school with the chicken pox.

Challenger was the first "I remember where I was when it happened" moment of my life.

[thetrilogy]

I too was in high school and will never forget them.

As a matter of fact, 15 years ago TODAY, my father passed on from colon cancer. I was very young and it affected me deeply. My health habits are much different today because of it. Not many people can say this but my father was my hero in life and spread joy to nearly every single person he ever met.

[Butter]

God, I don't need to see that video again.

[Radii]

Challenger was the first "I remember where I was when it happened" moment of my life.


In terms of non sports moments, same here. I didn't get to watch it in class, I heard about it on the way home from school and then I saw on the floor in my parents bedroom watching the news that evening. I was in the 3rd grade.

[Antmeister]

Wow! That was 20 freaking years ago. I was a freshman in high school when that happened and it was really surreal watching it as it happened. I kept thinking that it was some kind a movie at the time and my mind wouldn't compute that is was such a tragic event.

[oliegirl]

That is the first major news moment I remember also...the kind of "where were you when (blank) happened?". I was in 6th grade and we were watching it on TV...none of us (the kids) really understood what was going on until the Principal came on the loudspeaker and made an announcement a couple minutes after the explosion. So awful. Can't beleive it's been 20 years!

[Yellow5]

I was a junior in high school watching the Challenger on TV like many others, and it just didn't register to me what had happened and that those people were gone. I thought that there would be some sort of escape plan or something. Silly kid thinking I guess.

I work for Boeing now and when the Columbia went down a few years ago all of the memories from the Challenger experience came flooding back. We take for granted that these people are risking their lives when we send them up on these things, and forget how dangerous it really is.

[bbor]

Not many people can say this but my father was my hero in life and spread joy to nearly every single person he ever met.

If we had more people that thought like this the world would be a better place.

Cheers to your pops.

[AnalBumCover]

8th Grade. It was the day before my birthday.

[Toddzilla]

Gus Grissom was my maternal Grandmother's cousin. I remmeber she had some neat NASA memorabilia in her house when I was little, but who knows what happened to it.

[Hurst2112]

I was in 4th grade.

[Wolfpack]

I also was in 4th grade. I was in my science class at the time, but we didn't have a TV set up or anything. My teacher I guess had stepped out to watch the launch in another room and then came back to announce that "the shuttle just blew up". Oddly, she wasn't emotional about it or anything. I didn't really grasp how dramatic and horrible the event was until I got home that afternoon and saw that all the networks were wall-to-wall with the news about it. It was only then that I saw what had happened.

I was getting out of bed I guess about the time Columbia came apart because when I came downstairs and turned on the tube, it wasn't but maybe a half-hour after it had happened. At that point they weren't totally sure what had happened, only that things had gone wrong on re-entry.

[Qwikshot]

I was in 5th or 6th grade, I don't remember. I do remember the announcement, but classes continued on...when I got home, it was on all the tvs. It was rather stunning, more amazing was that now, we assume they survived the initial explosion and were possibly alive (and conscious) the entire drop down.

Of course, I was singled out and told to watch the next take off to witness and report to my principal if it would be successful, kind of innoculous when you think about it, but it would have been pretty traumatizing had it happened again.

I was stunned with Columbia but it wasn't the same way because I was older and more aware of the risks that go into space flight.

[sabotai]

I think I was either in 1st or 2nd grade at the time. I was just a tiny little astronomer at the time (always had a big interest in space), plus we talked about it in class the days before the launch since a teacher was going into space. We watched the news coverage of it all day. The only actual class we had for 2 days was gym class. But it's not like we all happy about not having class. We were all pretty much glued to the TV.

Definately my first "everyone remembers where they were when (blank) happened".

[rkmsuf]

I remember I was in an Applebees when OJ got off. Whole work crew went over to participate in the festivities.

[AnalBumCover]

I think I was either in 1st or 2nd grade at the time. [...] The only actual class we had for 2 days was gym class.You had gym class in 1st or 2nd grade? We only had recess at that age.

[sabotai]

You had gym class in 1st or 2nd grade? We only had recess at that age.Yeah, from 1st grade on.

[Karlifornia]

I was only 2, so I don't remember it as it happened. I remember Columbia rather vividly, as it was the morning after me and ex-girlfriend of 3 years first hooked up.

I was in 5th or 6th grade when the O.J. verdict was read. They pulled us all out of class and brought us to the teacher's lounge to watch it. Looking back, I can't believe the mania that that trial created.

[rkmsuf]

Applebees was packed to overflow for the OJ. Huge reaction from the crowd. It was like Justin Leonard sinking the Ryder Cup putt.

[Antmeister]

Yay...the OJ trail was crazy. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and working for MTA. I remember a number of people making bets on whether he was going to get off. It seemed that every other cubicle had a radio or small TV on, and after the verdict was read, I remember a number of women who just stared at me with disgust whenever I passed them by. It was as if I were the one getting away with murder. Very, very strange to see a whole office get polarized in a matter of seconds. It took about two weeks for things to get back to normal again.

[Karlifornia]

Yay...the OJ trail was crazy. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and working for MTA. I remember a number of people making bets on whether he was going to get off. It seemed that every other cubicle had a radio or small TV on, and after the verdict was read, I remember a number of women who just stared at me with disgust whenever I passed them by. It was as if I were the one getting away with murder. Very, very strange to see a whole office get polarized in a matter of seconds. It took about two weeks for things to get back to normal again.



Antmeister, did you get your OJ prize in the mail?

[Antmeister]

Antmeister, did you get your OJ prize in the mail?

lol....no I didn't.

[terpkristin]

I too was in first grade, watching the shuttle on TV.
I remember that as things started going bad and everybody started to realize that there was a MAJOR problem, they quickly shuffled us back to our classrooms (we had been in an "open area" in the middle of all the classrooms, as the classrooms were all arranged in a circle for each grade).

I was at home recovering from hand surgery for Columbia. Columbia was in the middle of my grad school career, where I was studying aerospace engineering, with a thesis of using robots in space to examine and fix problems with satellites. That definitely frustrated me a lot. Maybe even more because I'd actually been in that shuttle and seen one of its launches.

/tk

[finkenst]

challenger: 8th grade...
sitting in math class, i believe .. when..
the audio-visual/supply lady came bursting in and said, "The shuttle just blew up."

we spent the rest of the day watching the news coverage...

[Craptacular]

I was actually in the school hallway playing Parsec (of all things) on the TI. The first few grades in our school always watched the liftoffs, and my neighbor came out in the hall and told me what happened.

[RendeR]

I was sitting in Chemistry class, we were spending the class watching the launch live. We were all really excited, the teacher went over the inumerable chemical processes taking place throughout everything, then....poof....it just vanished in a huge cloud....

We never changed classes again that day, the whole school just stayed where theyw ere or got ordered down to the auditorium.

One of many days in my life that I will never ever be able to forget.

[Crapshoot]

For shame - for shame. They died pushing the final frontier. Lets not forget them.

[lighthousekeeper]

http://simr02.si.ehu.es/FileRoom/images/image350.gif

19 years ago TODAY: 2 Live Crew

[dacman]

The term "threadjacking" just took on a whole new meaning.

[Crapshoot]

That is inappropriate, especially in this thread.

[RendeR]

That is inappropriate, especially in this thread.
Yes, extremely inappropriate, please remove your post lighthousekeeper.

[lighthousekeeper]

I remember I was in 3rd grade when the Challenger exploded. They wheeled the TV into the classroom and the class watched.

I don't remember the impetus, but for some reason I was laughing (don't remember whether it was because of what was on TV or some other thing going on) but I do remember the teacher scolding me, telling me that it was inappropriate. Being a shy, do-gooder type kid, I never wanted to do anything to upset the teacher, so I was a little embarrassed. But I also felt at that moment a little defensive and although I didn't say anything, I thought to myself (in whatever way a 3rd grader frames these thoughts): "people are dying every second all over the world. why should these deaths be more solemn than the others? if we can't laugh when someone dies, then we can never laugh". don't know if those were the exact thoughts, but it was something along those lines.

I guess I haven't really matured/learned much since then. :)

[dacman]

Bump -- 2 more years (meant to bump last year, but forgot).

Friday is the FIVE YEAR anniversary for Columbia.

[Fidatelo]

I don't remember where I was when I learned about Challenger. I would have been 10, so elementary school, but I don't remember if we got to watch it on TV or not.

I think the first "I remember where I was for that event" thing for me was when Kurt Cobain killed himself, I was at home and I remember watching Much Music for hours.

The most vivid one is 9/11 though, because I was working from my apartment in Montreal and got to watch CNN while I explained to all my former co-workers back in Winnipeg what was going on (they were at work). I actually remember typing to a buddy (whom I now work with again at a different company) that one of the towers looked like it was 'leaning' or something strange, and then it collapsed a couple minutes later. I wish I had saved the transcripts of those IM's, it would be amazing to re-read exactly what we were talking about throughout that morning...

[wishbone]

I was in 4th grade when this happened. They had gathered several classes (100+ kids) in the library to watch the launch. Right before lift-off one of the kids said "I hope it blows up". After it exploded, people were in shock for about 10 seconds then a handful of girls started beating the kid up. The teachers couldn't react, they were still watching TV. The gym teacher finally woke up and yelled "knock that shit off" and everybody started watching the TV again.

[molson]

I was actually in the school hallway playing Parsec (of all things) on the TI.

I love that game. And I just recently finally climbed Mt. Everest in Alpiner via emulator, have struggling for years as a kid with that. It's kind of sad how easy it was.

I was in 2nd grade, but didn't see it at school, which is quite odd in retrospect because I was just south of the New Hampshire border and Christa Mcauliffe was a pretty big deal there, even before the launch. I heard about it on the walk home, but don't remember it having any effect on me.

I remember hearing probably my first ever really tasteless joke just a few days or weeks later. "NASA stands for needs another seven astronauts". A teacher overheard one kid saying it and he had to "stay in for reccess" - the worst punishment at the teacher's disposal back then.

Then I remember hearing all these crazy rumors about one of them surviving or their body parts washing up on beaches. The schoolyard was truly the 80's equivalent of the internet in terms of crazy rumors.

[Kodos]

I remember the Head & Shoulders joke. I guess I was in 9th grade at the time. I remember finding out while I was at lunch, but that doesn't seem like it would jibe with the timing of events. Maybe I was in study hall in the lunch room.

[SackAttack]

I was in the first grade, but I don't think we had the capability for live TV in the classroom.

I sure don't remember watching any shuttle launches, for sure.

[DaddyTorgo]

my parents swear i wasn't watching this live, but i have absolutly VIVID memories of watching it live in school. Would have made sense too, as McAuliffe was a local.

Can't believe it's been that long since Columbia either. I have a poem that I wrote 5 years ago about Columbia. Let me see if it's on my phone next to me here.

Bluebonnets

The fireball burned the sky like crimson tumbleweed
cartwheeling across the Texas prarie.

We will always wonder when you knew,
if there was an instant for thoughts,
of home and loved ones;
before your ship began to shake, and shed
like petals of a bluebonnet blazing through the sky.

Nothing remains now, but to etch your names
in granite on that Houston monument.
Lines in stone are all that will remain soon,
when your names have been forgotten
as the ink and pulp of the papers
bleeds into new headlines.

[DaddyTorgo]

dola

that poem was written day-of...probably within a few hours of the disaster, and hasn't really undergone any significant revision, as I never included it in any compilations i was working on or whatever, so it's still quite "raw." but...in some way that seems sort of fitting too.

[Groundhog]

I'll always remember Columbia for a different reason than most... I think it was about 4am Sydney time when my mobile phone starts ringing. I wake up, answer the call, and it's my brother, drunk as a skunk:

"Turn on the news, terrorists have shot down the space station!!!"

[Karlifornia]

my parents swear i wasn't watching this live, but i have absolutly VIVID memories of watching it live in school. Would have made sense too, as McAuliffe was a local.

Can't believe it's been that long since Columbia either. I have a poem that I wrote 5 years ago about Columbia. Let me see if it's on my phone next to me here.

Bluebonnets

The fireball burned the sky like crimson tumbleweed
cartwheeling across the Texas prarie.

We will always wonder when you knew,
if there was an instant for thoughts,
of home and loved ones;
before your ship began to shake, and shed
like petals of a bluebonnet blazing through the sky.

Nothing remains now, but to etch your names
in granite on that Houston monument.
Lines in stone are all that will remain soon,
when your names have been forgotten
as the ink and pulp of the papers
bleeds into new headlines.


Usually I hate reading poetry, as it reeks of ugly pretention...but this is actually pretty good.

[DaddyTorgo]

well thanks

[Tasan]

Columbia almost gets me more than Challenger, and Challenger got me bad when I was a kid. Columbia was when I was an adult, and it happened basically right on top of my head. I flipped on the TV that morning, when 'Holy crap, they can't get the shuttle on radio', when outside and say the streak across the sky. I was in Dallas, and it was very prominent. That image is burned into my eyes I think.

[Mustang]

Reagan being shot was the first 'Where were you' moments for me.

[wahoomac]

Makes me feel pretty old. I was a freshman at UF, coming home from morning class on my bike to my dorm. Someone said there was something on the TV about the shuttle. I had always grown accustomed to watching launches (grew up in central Florida and watched most of the space launches from '70 on...only had to go to the end of my driveway to watch them). I didn't get a chance to watch for the shuttle that morning because of class. I remember it was a pretty cold day in Gainesville: beautiful with clear skies. Of course, that seems to have been the death-knell for the shuttle. Spent the rest of the day in the dorm kitchen, watching the small 15" TV.

[lynchjm24]

hmmm, that means 20 years ago I was home from high school with the chicken pox.

Challenger was the first "I remember where I was when it happened" moment of my life.

You don't remember Reagan getting shot?

EDIT: I guess I'm asking 2 years too late. But I was in 8th grade when Challenger happened and I remember them rolling TVs into our 2nd grade class for Reagan.

[RendeR]

Telle and I will never forget the Columbia tragedy, it was the day i proposed to her. We had taken a weekend trip to a really nice Inn up in Maine. 3 feet of snow covered everything, it was wonderful, then we're watching the news and that comes on.

It was just awful to watch, knowing that shining burning flare across the sky was our intrepid space shuttle giving its farewell to the world.

[dacman]

Yearly bump (sort of -- missed it last year).

[Lathum]

Telle and I will never forget the Columbia tragedy, it was the day i proposed to her. We had taken a weekend trip to a really nice Inn up in Maine. 3 feet of snow covered everything, it was wonderful, then we're watching the news and that comes on.

It was just awful to watch, knowing that shining burning flare across the sky was our intrepid space shuttle giving its farewell to the world.

A. I had no idea you were so freakin old
B. You got engaged young, good for you that you have a happy marriage still

[BigPapi]

I remember I was in 3rd grade when the Challenger exploded. They wheeled the TV into the classroom and the class watched.

I don't remember the impetus, but for some reason I was laughing (don't remember whether it was because of what was on TV or some other thing going on) but I do remember the teacher scolding me, telling me that it was inappropriate. Being a shy, do-gooder type kid, I never wanted to do anything to upset the teacher, so I was a little embarrassed. But I also felt at that moment a little defensive and although I didn't say anything, I thought to myself (in whatever way a 3rd grader frames these thoughts): "people are dying every second all over the world. why should these deaths be more solemn than the others? if we can't laugh when someone dies, then we can never laugh". don't know if those were the exact thoughts, but it was something along those lines.

I guess I haven't really matured/learned much since then. :)

That kind of levity will come in handy when loved ones pass away...

[Galaril]

Ironic that the news is also reporting Obama has axed the funding for next years budget for the NASA Constellation space program from early reports of his budget . I guess something has to be cut but I have generally always thought we should be looking more to going out into space.

[Schmidty]

I was in 5th grade, and I remember my whole class huddling around a radio in the classroom, because everyone was so excited about the teacher going up. I still remember my teacher and most of the girls in the class looking shocked and then sobbing when the accident happened. Normally, I would have been happy to be released early, but I just couldn't enjoy it that day.

[Celeval]

4th grade. We weren't watching it, but it was announced over the loudspeaker. I wasn't allowed to watch it (via the news) on TV until I had finished my paper route, and I think I ran the whole way through.

[dacman]

Yearly bump.

[Toddzilla]

We weren't watching either - space shuttles were pretty common so no one made a big deal about it - nothing like the first one going up 5-6 years previously. Someone at school heard about it and the word spread real fast.

[dacman]

Annual bumpage.

[Chief Rum]

16 years later... we don't even have a shuttle program anymore.

I miss the halcyon days of my youth when I used to dream about being an American astronaut and travelling to the stars.

[sterlingice]

Same :(

SI

[dzilla77]

16 years later... we don't even have a shuttle program anymore.

I miss the halcyon days of my youth when I used to dream about being an American astronaut and travelling to the stars.

Its, uh, 26 years later. Yeah, that's right you're getting OLD!

[Chief Rum]

Its, uh, 26 years later. Yeah, that's right you're getting OLD!

The 90s don't count.

[RendeR]

The 90s don't count.


I second this emotion. The 90's sucked ass.

[RendeR]

A. I had no idea you were so freakin old
B. You got engaged young, good for you that you have a happy marriage still



Wow I need to check the threads I post in, I missed this altogether.


We got engaged in 2002. We watched the Columbia disaster, I realize I may have confused you since this thread was about Challenger to begin with =)

and yes I'm old. Fuck You. =)

[dacman]

I can't believe

a) It's been THIRTY years now

b) I originally posted this TEN years ago

[digamma]

I think others in Atlanta may remember we had one of "those" Atlanta snow days where schools were closed on the threat of snow and because it was really freaking cold, even by northern standards. I was at home watching the launch live. One of those bizarre things.

When I think about it, I've randomly been in a place to watch live television of two of the more transcendent moments of our generation--the Challenger explosion and happening to turn on CNN between the time the two planes hit on 9/11. Sad, in a way.

[lungs]

This is probably my first recollection of a news event. I was three and a half years old.

[Toddzilla]

I remember when you posted it 10 years ago. I was at work I think, getting ready for a meeting. I'd just opened my Diet Mountain Dew and had a few minutes before the meeting so I opened my browser and went to FOFC. It may not have been the top thread at the time, possibly a few down, but when I saw the Reagan quote...bracketed by the beautiful ellipses...I knew immediately what it was about. I read it and thought about what had happened 20 years previously.

I imagine just ten short years from now, I'll look back and recollect, thoughtfully remembering the time I looked back and recollected, and thoughtfully remembered the day I saw your post for the first time. And I looked back.

Recollected.

And thoughtfully remembered.

[cartman]

I think others in Atlanta may remember we had one of "those" Atlanta snow days where schools were closed on the threat of snow and because it was really freaking cold, even by northern standards. I was at home watching the launch live. One of those bizarre things.


That's what one of my friends remembers as well. He and his family had recently moved to Atlanta from the Cape Canaveral area, where they would watch launches before going to school. He remembers the snow day, and that they decided to watch a launch on TV for the first time.

[PilotMan]

I was at the G&T school that I went to one day a week in 5th grade. We didn't get to watch it, but some of the other kids who did came back talking about it. I didn't believe them at first. But as more corroborated it I just couldn't believe it.

I remember being at my Dad's house that summer, being up early in the morning watching the results of the investigation as it aired on CSPAN. I was riveted to the analysis of the investigation.

[JeeberD]

I was totally unaware that the astronauts were likely still alive until the crashed into the ocean. Such a horrifying thing to think about...

Thirty Years Ago, the Challenger Crew Plunged Alive and Aware to Their Deaths (http://gawker.com/thirty-years-ago-the-challenger-crew-plunged-alive-and-1755727930)

[SteveMax58]

Wow, 30 years ago. :(

I was actually at KSC on a school field trip that day. I was specifically sitting inside the Imax theater when it blew up (apparently my class was shafted with the theater time to not be outside for the launch).

We heard a gigantic boom inside the theater, but given how loud the movie was, it didn't quite make us (or me anyway) think anything was going on. Then the lights came on, and we were all ushered outside and all of the classes were there...some people were crying and most were just staring at the sky. I recall the gigantic fuel trails in the sky and thos of us who were clueless were asking each other why the trails were going different directions.

Oddly, I don't recall much of that day beyond those very scant images in my head.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I was totally unaware that the astronauts were likely still alive until the crashed into the ocean. Such a horrifying thing to think about...

Thirty Years Ago, the Challenger Crew Plunged Alive and Aware to Their Deaths (http://gawker.com/thirty-years-ago-the-challenger-crew-plunged-alive-and-1755727930)

While it's a bit harrowing to think about, the astronauts were well-aware of the risks. They knew death was a real possibility on many levels. It's easy to play the blame game about a parachute or something along those lines that might have allowed them to float down, but the reality is that you should never feel safe sitting on top of a rocket with thousands of pounds of rocket fuel.

[Toddzilla]

The NPR story about the engineers that knew there were catastrophic issues with launching the shuttle in such cold weather and telling their bosses to scrub the launch or there will be a disaster is chilling to listen to.

[Suicane75]

Forgive what may be a stupid question, but what then is the general consensus on how they died? Impact? Drowning?

[BYU 14]

IIRC the impact/shock waves from the explosion was said to be the cause of death at the time. (Then remembered what Jeebs posted below later)

Man 30 years, still so vivid.

I was 22 years old working for Orkin and spraying an apartment complex in Pasadena when this happened. I went into one of the units were people were home and the local channel had just cut in saying the shuttle appeared to have exploded.

[SteveMax58]

Forgive what may be a stupid question, but what then is the general consensus on how they died? Impact? Drowning?

Officially it was undetermined but NASA's investigation stated they most likely survived the explosion and that at least 3 were probably conscious as they activated their oxygen masks. The cabin was intact until it hit the water at 200+ mph.