Here we are in the second of a three part series. I would almost say everyone remembers this, but there are young people who were too young or not even born at the time.On January 28th, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke up and was destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff. The culprit turned out to be gas escaping through an O ring in the solid rocket boosters. The Shuttle itself did not explode, but was broken up by large g-forces as the solid rocket booster ruptured the external tank.
I remember this one...I was a senior in high school. A few years earlier, a joke made the rounds about the Space Shuttle exploding. I can't remember the punch line. When someone told me the Shuttle exploded, I thought it was the joke and was waiting for that punch line. It never came.
I was a lazy senior who managed to schedule all my classes in the morning (and pretty much convinced everyone I should not be forced to stay in study hall all afternoon..yeah, I skipped a LOT of school that year) so I went home and watched television coverage until basketball practice. They played it over and over so many times that I still hold my breath when I hear the "Go with throttle up" (the last transmission from mission control) watching shuttle launches today
The mission was the first teacher in space mission. Christa Mcauliffe's launch gave the mission a higher profile than normal.
Challenger is an event for people of a certain age...it is the "Where were you when..." for my generation. I remember the hallway I was walking down when I heard and the classmate who told me. I will not forget.
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It still generates a lump in my throat when I think about it. I think the fact that there was so much promotion with the teacher aboard, just knowing the millions of televisions that were tuned in with schoolchildren watching live, made this even more horrifying.
I was working at the auto shop in Chicago, A customer told me. I went into the back room and started tearing up. I kept thinking about two things: the JFK assassination, and I couldn't let the customers see me cry. Later that day I saw the film that hale mentioned playing over and over on the news.
I was working for an insurance company in Milwaukee. I worked in sales, and had access to a TV...we pulled it out to watch the news...Sad day for everyone. And, yes, kk, I remember that being mentioned that children all over the US were watching this shuttle with interest. But can you imagine being a family member watching from the area they had reserved for them? That's what I kept thinking of...
I was in the 1st grade.. I remember it quite vividly. I didnt quite understand what was happening but I remember the horror on my teachers faces.. I think that made me understand the gravity of the situation..
Our school put up a mural in the then library in memory of that event.. it was kinda cool every student got to paint a little on it.. I believe it still is hanging at Jefferson..
I was 21 and bartending during the day for the old cronie crowd (the cribbage players)..The bar fell silent. We just watched in horror. I spent the rest of the day in shock. I too wiped away tears everytime they showed her picture.RIP Christa Mcauliffe. You are remembered.
Watched it live on TV. There is no adequate adjective I can draw upon to express my feeling at that moment.
I'm often reminded of a quote attributed to Chuck Yeager. When someone mocked the first Apollo astronauts as "chimps", Yeager purportedly said "Oh yeah? Does a chimp know he's sitting on top of a giant gas can? These are very brave men".
They are indeed very brave men and women.
I was at work. When I saw it for the first time, I kept thinking this doesn’t happen to us...it was horrifying.
Sorry, that should read "the first Mercury astronauts"
I remember watching this live on TV. I was thinking a perfect launch-I'm watching history here. Then it happened... I sat there stunned with disbelief. I was at home getting ready for classes at Gateway.
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