RIP Challenger and crew.

Didn't realize Smith was a local:
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/9017817/

It was said that the risk factor of the Shuttle program was 1-100, 1 out of 100 missions could result in a Shuttle lost, Challenger was on mission 25 and Columbia was on it's 28th when it was lost 2/1/2003. Of the 2 accidents I'd have to say that Columbia was probably the worst for the crew I would think, let us hope that something like this never happens again in our lifetimes.
Our Space program isn't without risks but we know now that the Russians have had many more that they never disclosed till recently, We should remember them as well. One day they may look back on those men and women who reached for the stars as we look back on the men who flew wood and canvas and reached for the sky.

This happened five days before I left for USAF basic training. I remember being in my bedroom packing up stuff since I was leaving soon and had the TV on to watch the launch. Very sad day indeed.

I didn't want to start a new thread.

I am watching this:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/galleries/challenger-disaster-the-lost-tapes/

For as many times as I've seen video of the Shuttle Challenger exploding and seen videos of the folks in the spectators stand at Cape Canaveral and videos of McAuliffe's student watching the launch on TV in their school auditorium, I still can't believe how those folks didn't realize the orbiter exploded.

Many of them had a facial expression of awe and excitement when the orbiter exploded as if they were watching a firework show.

p.s. This Thursday will be the 30th Anniversary.

I was living in Melbourne,FL at the time. Saw it happen live and it took a long time to believe I saw what I saw.

I was working on a delivery run and when I got back to the warehouse, someone said did you hear? the shuttle has exploded.

I still remember saying: No way! You are lying!

My 2nd grade stand-out memory was hearing that JFK had been assassinated. Our teacher was literally in tears that day.

I was working at the nuclear power plant in Crystal River (on Florida's west coast) on Challenger's last day. The plant is built on a berm that provides a good bit of elevation over the surrounding area. People in my shop would routinely step outside to watch shuttle launches on clear days, and could see the launch trail from across the state. When Challenger's trail split, I knew right away that something was different, which couldn't be good. We headed back inside to listen to the radio coverage, which confirmed the bad news.

Any loss like that is terrible, of course... but it seemed a bit more so due to school teacher McAuliffe being included, and all the attendant increased publicity that surrounded the run up to that mission.

Was watching this a couple of nights ago on NatGeo.

When it happened I was walking home from the town and had decided to pop into the video store and have a chat with the owner, he was sitting there saying "it blew up... it blew up" and he then turned the TV round so I could see as well. Sad day, and one of those ones you remember, like the shooting of JFK or PAN AM or 9/11 I remember all of them.

I was in school at Michigan State at the time. I remember my phone rang, it was my mother yelling "the space ship blew up, the space ship blew up". She sounded frantic. I had no idea what she was talking about. Then she said turn on your TV. I had the same feeling I had when I watched the 9/11 disaster unfold. It felt surreal, almost dream like. I'll never forget the look on the faces of the parents in the stands.

Wow, I'd forgotten about this thread.





The Jedi Master

We were stationed at Hanscom AFB at the time. I was in the 7th grade.

I was a senior in high school at the time, and IIRC I was in my physics class when it happened. No TVs in classrooms back then, and obviously no internet or cell phones, and I don't think it was a school-wide announcement over the intercom. Since I was in a class of nerds & nerdettes there was a stunned silence.

Seventeen astronauts lost their lives in just short of 50 years of orbital flights. While the loss of one is a tragedy, looking at the big picture and the hundreds of people who've been blasted into space, the fact that we haven't lost MORE than 17 seems miraculous.

I was an A1C in the Air Force, working an Alarm Response team for FE Warren AFB's Weapons Storage Area (nuclear warheads). The flight chief rotated the teams that didn't have access to a TV into the Fire Team Facility to allow us to see a bit of the news.

Sad day.

This thread is OLD. My post is on the first page. 2011. Digging up some old stuff.Then again
many of of us have been around here a long Time. Been 30 years since event.

Can't believe it's been 30 years.

They were wheeling a TV into my 9th grade English class when I walked in - couldn't understand why at first.

Science teacher was in a grim mood that day - all normal work was put on hold and it basically was a "space history" class that day.

Math teacher did something kind of similar - he started talking more about Science that day, as it pertains to math, rocketry and such.

History teacher also mostly dropped the normal work - can't really remember what all he went into but it was definitely a "current events" day.

PE and Typing were the only classes that ran pretty much normally that day.

I remember as it was yesterday, it opened the night's news here in Portugal, just the footage of the take off and the explosion without any introductory comments so it was a surprise and a truly shock when she just exploded in a fireball. I was 11 and i'll never forget it.

R.I.P.

Since I didn't get to actually see this tragedy unfolding live in real time on TV, back then it didn't hit me right away.

What fascinates me about these revived old threads is seeing the SimHQ members who used to be frequent visitors who are now long gone.

I was studying for my ACT that I'd be taking the following month (and did surprisingly well on). Wife was in her freshman year of college, people were talking about it as she walked into class. What I don't remember is if I watched it in real-time or not, I normally tried to catch launches on TV (and sometimes watch them outside when we lived in Jax, FL).

25 years, eh? Yeah, the title of this old thread confused me as well, the math wasn't adding up. I'm not sleeping so well lately but I know I'm not losing my mind!

I miss HankMC. He has not posted since 2011.