The Challenger Anniversary

[Tank]

37 years ago today in 1986, the Space Shuttle “Challenger” broke apart 73 seconds into its flight. It exploded and the remaining parts fell down to the Atlantic Ocean from 43,000 feet. All seven members of the crew died. It was the first fatal space flight accident in U.S history. Where were you on that fateful day?

I was a second year teacher. I had a planning period to start the day and was excited about the first teacher going up in space. Was even planning to try and follow a couple of the lessons she was going to teach while up there. l didn't have a tv in my room so I wasn't watching. Our school secretary came in and told me the news, and I turned on my radio. We wheeled in the tv cart and watched with all the 7-10 graders for the next hour or two. It was pretty devastating. I had told the kids that I wished I could have been selected for the program but I lacked the necessary years of teaching experience to apply. Made it known to the kids how much I wished I could go to space. While watching the coverage, one of my girls came up to me and said, "You still wish you could have gone up on this mission?" She was being really snarky about it. I would have been thrilled to up on another mission as soon as I was qualified to go.

[arch stanton]

I was just a little over a year into my time in aviation maintenance. Saw it on the big tv in the barracks tv room. Although it's not something I deal with a lot in my line, to this day I think about that explosion every time I install an O-ring seal

[Taylor]

What's tragic is that several people noticed something was amiss and urged NASA not to allow the shuttle to take off, but they did anyway.

[Tank]

4 hours ago, Taylor said:

What's tragic is that several people noticed something was amiss and urged NASA not to allow the shuttle to take off, but they did anyway.

not contesting that. asking where you were on that day.

[PattyD22]

I was a senior in high school and I was sitting in Government Class.  We were watching the launch live in class when the disaster happened.  None of us, except our teacher, knew anything was wrong.  There was scattered chit chat in the class, when all of a sudden our teacher yelled at the class, “All of you shut up.  A national tragedy has just occurred.”

No one said a word for the next half hour as we sat in silence.  I remember it like it was yesterday.

[Taylor]

8 hours ago, Tank said:

not contesting that. asking where you were on that day.

Am I not allowed to comment because I was born after 1986?

[T.G.]

I was working at CBS Television City... gathered around a TV in my boss' office with my colleagues.  It was surreal.

[PattyD22]

25 minutes ago, T.G. said:

I was working at CBS Television City... gathered around a TV in my boss' office with my colleagues.  It was surreal.

We’re you hanging with Bob Barker, @T.G.?

[St1ck]

8 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

We’re you hanging with Bob Barker, @T.G.?

That's how TG ended up getting neutered.

[Jay]

I was 26 years old, working at Northrop in Hawthorne. A colleague of mine who was about 15 years older had recently joined the company. He came from McDonnell Douglas where he worked on the space shuttle program.

 

[Lhalo]

I stayed home from school sick. I watched it sitting on the foot of my parents' bed.

From what I understand, the crew cabin stayed intact and the astronauts didn't die until they hit the water minutes after the initial RUD. NASA supposedly has unreleased audio of them screaming and there is evidence that some of them activated breathing apparatuses after the cabin depressurized.

[T.G.]

47 minutes ago, PattyD22 said:

We’re you hanging with Bob Barker, @T.G.?

I did work on that show as a Page... but was working in the building in another capacity when the tragedy happened.

[Taylor]

14 minutes ago, T.G. said:

I did work on that show as a Page...

[Jason]

16 hours ago, Tank said:

 

I was a second year teacher. I had a planning period to start the day and was excited about the first teacher going up in space. Was even planning to try and follow a couple of the lessons she was going to teach while up there. l didn't have a tv in my room so I wasn't watching. Our school secretary came in and told me the news, and I turned on my radio. We wheeled in the tv cart and watched with all the 7-10 graders for the next hour or two. It was pretty devastating. I had told the kids that I wished I could have been selected for the program but I lacked the necessary years of teaching experience to apply. Made it known to the kids how much I wished I could go to space. While watching the coverage, one of my girls came up to me and said, "You still wish you could have gone up on this mission?" She was being really snarky about it. I would have been thrilled to up on another mission as soon as I was qualified to go.

 

16 hours ago, arch stanton said:

I was just a little over a year into my time in aviation maintenance. Saw it on the big tv in the barracks tv room. Although it's not something I deal with a lot in my line, to this day I think about that explosion every time I install an O-ring seal

You guys are older than I thought 

[Jason]

7th grade class and we were watching it live. Very sad

[Jason]

10 hours ago, Tank said:

not contesting that. asking where you were on that day.

 

2 hours ago, Taylor said:

Am I not allowed to comment because I was born after 1986?

Just say that you were swimming around in your dad's testes 

[Taylor]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Just say that you were swimming around in your dad's testes 

[Lhalo]

1 hour ago, T.G. said:

I did work on that show as a Page... but was working in the building in another capacity when the tragedy happened.

Tell me about Barker's beauties. In particular please tell me about their dressing room.

[Taylor]

22 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I was in my mother's ovaries though. Did you know that women are born with all the eggs they'll ever have?

 

[T.G.]

10 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

Tell me about Barker's beauties. In particular please tell me about their dressing room.

[Jason]

23 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I was in my mother's ovaries though. Did you know that women are born with all the eggs they'll ever have?

 

I’m not sure what’s worse to think about in this scenario 

[St1ck]

21 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

Tell me about Barker's beauties. In particular please tell me about their dressing room.

Since it was 1986 I can describe it for you. There were mountains of cocaine and hairy muffs 

[T.G.]

We had a running joke as CBS Pages working on the Price is Right.

We noticed that whenever they needed a model to demonstrate a trampoline, they always had Holly do it.  We speculated that if Dian Parkinson did it, she'd end up with two black eyes.

[Tank]

5 hours ago, Taylor said:

Am I not allowed to comment because I was born after 1986?

this is thread is about where you were when it happened, not what your opinion is about why it happened.

if you want to talk about why it happened and the layers of incompetence, feel free to start your own thread.

[DCAngelsFan]

That morning, watching the news before work, I saw the video of ice on the boosters, etc, and there was obvious concern - I felt a bit queasy about it, but decided they'd play it safe like they usually did.

Our office admin was listening to to the launch on her radio and I joined her to listen, and we both heard it the live - we were in utter shock, couldn't believe what we heard.  Some co-workers saw us listening, wondered what was going on, and soon, most of the officer were gathered around that radio.  In my memory, we didn't say a word, but that's probably not right.  

I decided the two other guys in the office who hadn't come out should know, and the admin and I went to their shared office where they were having a kind of heated discussion about some work related thing, and they didn't stop, and I didn't, couldn't interrupt them - I was trying to figure out what words I'd say - and I just couldn't imagine myself saying "the shuttle exploded after launch, and it doesn't sound like there are any survivors."

Finally, after what seemed like 5 minutes of me just standing there, I spotted a radio on one's desk - I went to it, turned it on, and tuned to the news station.  Said something like "Listen to the news" and walked out - I couldn't bring myself to say what had happened out loud.

As as kid, I watched the Apollo missions, including 11 from launch to recovery and I ditched school so I could watch 13's re-entry on tv, and built the Saturn V various components models several times, and many of friend's fathers worked in aerospace, including Douglas and Rockwell and whoever that was with the manufacturing facility in in Hawthorne - Northrop?  

To me, the Challenger was one of the most shocking moments of my life.