Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster, 30 yrs ago TODAY

I was watching the t.v. in my condo in fl. When. It happened, I remember my roommate and I just looked at each other with that "deer in the headlights" look.

We ran outside and looked up to see that terrible cloud of white that just split and stopped in the winds aloft......

This was absurd and unfathomable. After some 25 flights, to find out a simlple "O" ring was to blame.....

Where were you ATS??

On January 28, 1986, the American shuttle orbiter Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission.

The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who had been selected to join the mission and teach lessons from space to schoolchildren around the country.

It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. The tragedy and its aftermath received extensive media coverage and prompted NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions.

Challenger

Timeline link

a reply to: ReadLeader

I was at work, heard about it on the radio

I forget where exactly I was when I heard the news, All I remember was being in shock. Sad day. I was then and still am a fan of the Shuttle program.

Also, I think President Reagan was supposed to give the State of the Union address but rightfully so addressed the tragedy instead.

I was in France as an au-pair, getting the kid ready whilst watching the news. I wasn't really listening but though that they just showed the launch of Challenger and thought 'cool', when it suddenly exploded.
I was just as shocked as if it had happened right at that moment. I remember that very well.

a reply to: ReadLeader

I was standing in line for lunch about 40 miles from the Cape. As I watched it through the window and saw the explosion my jaw dropped and heart sank. I'll remember forever the lady behind me who obviously was a visitor (snowbird). As she watched and it exploded she would say "oh my, what a beautiful sight". She obviously didn't know and had a smile from ear to ear....until I told her it just blew up and we lost 7 good people.
The place I was working for let us out early and the next day was off also.

originally posted by: Mark98SS
a reply to: ReadLeader
I was at work, heard about it on the radio

Same here... was Paul Harvey news show.

I was shocked, saddened and then when the O-ring issue arose, angry as well.

a reply to: ReadLeader

We ran outside and looked up to see that terrible cloud of white that just split and stopped in the winds aloft……

You saw that, huh? I was sick home from work, I tuned in to tv, seeing streamers of white coming down, splashes in the ocean.

That was awful…

The O ring was one factor, due to cold. The other was launch fever, blinded by bureaucracy.

RIP

a reply to: fldinosaur

WOW!!!! Fld, that is just... wow... poor lady, had no idea...


thanks for posting

a reply to: redoubt

Amazing that something so small and irrelevant (seemingly) would reap such havoc... I think I even remember watching a documentary on that many years ago.... of course, the conspirator in me......


thanks for posting

a reply to: ReadLeader

Elementary School. We were lining up to go to (I think) music class. I remembered that at first we thought we heard a computer exploded in the school and some kid got hurt. It was about 15 minutes until we found out what had happened.

I was in my 3rd (and final) year in the Army - stationed at Fort Leavenworth, KS. At the time I was helping out civilian contractors with phone system installations at various locations on the base. We were all sitting there watching the news and drinking coffee before going out to do whatever job we had that day when we saw it live (at least I think it was live). Such a sad day - especially with the excitement of sending a teacher into space. I was so shocked and saddened by the whole thing.

a reply to: ReadLeader

I was in a bar celebrating my 31st birthday when Challenger exploded.

Yes,today is my birthday!

a reply to: mamabeth

Happy Birthday Mama!!!!

a reply to: intrptr

Yes, we could not believe our eyes; it was horrifying, as we knew exactly what had taken place.

a reply to: ReadLeader

Thank-you very much! It is hard to believe that it has been 30 years.

Bit younger than some of you, but I was in Kindergarden. I had wanted to be an astronaut as long as I can remember, so I was sooo excited to watch a TEACHER go into space! We had some modules in class leading up to the launch, culminating with having a TV rolled into the classroom (you know it was a good day when you got a TV!).

The shuttle launched...then exploded. I remember my teacher leaping for the TV to turn it off, but it was too late. I don't know how, but at least a few people knew what happened and started crying (I was never a crier, but I still understood). It was especially devastating to myself as a 5 year old, and we never talked about any of it at school ever again.

In just a few days, we will be remembering the 13th anniversary of the Columbia disaster as well. Funny, the things that stick in your memory.

I was in Richmond, Va getting ready for a return flight to Cincinnati. The ground controller said that the shuttle had exploded. I was under the impression that it could glide back to soft landing. It took me a few minutes to comprehend it was destroyed. I commented that they wore chutes and even at a high altitude some may have escaped. I suppose that I was in general disbelief and denial.

NASA had said that there would failures more frequently than was being experienced. I attributed the success to the superior airmanship of its' crews and superior engineering. It is always painful to these losses.

a reply to: ReadLeader

I was replacing all the wiring in the light fixtures in a restaurant in TN. I was standing on a step-ladder with my head in the ceiling when I heard a couple of guys talking about it. I called the guy an F'ing liar. He tried to convince us he was telling the truth. But I still wasn't sold until we turned on the radio at the jobsite and heard it on the news.

I basically bypassed every electrical code in the book to temporary the lights back on. Then I went home and sat in front of the tv for the next two days watching for any news of survivors or the cause of the accident.

Interesting how certain events that have great personal meaning can create such permanent and detailed memories.

RIP

-dex

a reply to: ReadLeader

Attending sixth grade in Van Nuys, California.

There was a television wheeled into the classroom and the news was on all day, replaying the event.

At one point our teacher told us "Don't worry, aliens zipped in at the speed of light and saved them."

It was a weird school.

I will never forget that day.
In Boston, there was an ice storm the previous night.
My wife and I were staying at her sisters house, since we had lost electricity.
Shortly before the disaster, which absolutely shocked us, a small child was run over by a school bus in front of the house, as he had slipped on the ice and went under the wheels before it stopped.
Then, in the afternoon, my wife got in a bad accident when she used the car to get something at the house. She was ok though, but the car was near totaled.

All of these things were caused by ice.

They never should have launched that vehicle in that ice, which went down the entire eastern seaboard.