Do you remember where you were?
posted at 11:38 am on January 28, 2008 by Bryan
Send to a Friend |
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
I do. I was in 10th grade history class with Coach Koonce. I think we were studying the Assyrians, but I could be wrong about that. Most classes had a TV in them to watch the launch since it was the first time a teacher would go to space. Ours didn’t have a TV but there was one on a cart out in the hall that the teacher was planning to use for a later class or something. The teacher from the class next door (Mrs. Roy, if I remember correctly) rushed in and told the coach to get that TV and turn it on immediately because something had happened to the shuttle.
Shuttle mission 51L was much like most other missions. The Challenger was scheduled to carry some cargo, the Tracking Data Relay Satellite-2 (TDRS-2), as well as fly the Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203)/Halley’s Comet Experiment Deployable, a free-flying module designed to observe tail and coma of Halleys comet with two ultraviolet spectrometers and two cameras.
One thing made this mission unique. It was scheduled to be the first flight of a new program called TISP, the Teacher In Space Program. The Challenger was scheduled to carry Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly in space.
Selected from among more than 11,000 applicants from the education profession for entrance into the astronaut ranks, McAuliffe was very excited about the opportunity to participate in the space program. “I watched the Space Age being born and I would like to participate.”
Besides McAuliffe, the Challenger crew consisted of mission commander Francis R. Scobee; pilot Michael J. Smith; mission specialists Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Judith A. Resnik; and payload specialists Gregory B. Jarvis. Christa was also listed as a payload specialist.
From the beginning, though, Shuttle Mission STS-51L was plagued by problems. Liftoff was initally scheduled from at 3:43 p.m. EST on January 22, 1986. It slipped to Jan. 23, then Jan. 24, due to delays in mission 61-C and finally reset for Jan. 25 because of bad weather at transoceanic abort landing (TAL) site in Dakar, Senegal. The launch was again postponed for one day when launch processing was unable to meet new morning liftoff time. Predicted bad weather at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) caused the launch to be rescheduled for 9:37 a.m. EST, Jan. 27, but it was delayed another 24 hours when ground servicing equipment hatch closing fixture could not be removed from orbiter hatch.
The fixture was sawed off and an attaching bolt drilled out before closeout completed. During this delay, the cross winds exceeded limits at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility. There as a final delay of two hours when a hardware interface module in the launch processing system, which monitors fire detection system, failed during liquid hydrogen tanking procedures. The Challenger finally lifted off at 11:38:00 a.m. EST.
Seventy three seconds into the mission, the Challenger exploded, killing the entire crew.
On March 1, 2002, I was on the ground at the Kennedy Space Center for the launch of STS-109. Columbia lifted off at dawn on a flight to rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope, on a mission to repair damaged parts and upgrade the telescope’s electrical system and vision. There’s nothing quite like a shuttle liftoff — the extreme brilliance of the ignition, the roar and the power surge and the billowing cloud as the gigantic craft slowly lifts off the pad to begin its rise toward space. In a few seconds the shuttle with its fuel tanks went from a standstill to orbit. It seemed anti-climactic after the flight’s delays and the anticipatory build-up. Later that day I flew to Houston to spend the next few days in Mission Control, watching the astronauts work on the telescope on live video feeds. In the middle of the spacewalks we would walk outside and look up into the night sky, and at the appointed time a bright object looking like the brightest star you’ve ever seen would slip across the sky. It was the shuttle with Hubble attached, their reflectivity bright enough to make them visible as a dot from the ground. At 17,000 miles per hour, the dot took maybe three or four minutes to cross the sky above us. Those astronauts overcame technical issues with their space suits to conduct some of the longest EVAs ever conducted. Hubble got its new eyes.
These days we take space flight for granted. It’s just part of the background of our era. The Challenger disaster, and the disaster that would strike Columbia on her next mission after STS-107 on February 1 2003, ought to remind us that above all the science and technology, it takes the courage of intrepid men and women to keep us in space and reaching for the stars.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « 1 [2]
I wonder how many response we’d get here if the question was, “Where were you when JFK was shot?”
Rod on January 28, 2008 at 1:36 PM
I was also in the Chicago suburbs at the time. I can recall that it was the day after the Bears had won the SuperBowl, and I was on a tremendous high. I was taking my new Jeep in for something or other, and I walked into the waiting area to the first announcement.
Somehow, new cars and sports championships just didn’t seem to mean as much. Still don’t, for that matter.
psrch on January 28, 2008 at 1:37 PM
I was 3, so my memory is probably tainted, but I was watching with my mom. It started a life-long passion for all things spacey for me.
I watched the Columbia incident with my mom as well, it was just shortly after my daughter was born (yesterday was her birthday). I remember saying to my mother that even though there have been two shuttle disasters in my life, I’d still go into space if I could.
I feel so young now, after reading this thread.
the goddess anna on January 28, 2008 at 1:41 PM
I remember that too, although I was quite a bit younger.
/second grade
Bob's Kid on January 28, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Rod, or how ’bout “Where were you on 9/11?”
In bed, sleeping, dreaming that I was standing up in the back of a plane, right in the aisle, when I was suddenly thrown forward as if the plane came to a complete stop. I woke straight up like “WTF?!” I ran downstairs and turned on the tv in time to see the second plane hit.
Tony737 on January 28, 2008 at 1:43 PM
I was sitting in a bar in Bangor, Maine. Went out with some friends after a rugged day in class and was watching the tube thinking it was one of those old V2 rocket films where the rocket goes nuts. No sound, great colorized version (I thought), and then they show pictures of astronauts. They looked old then, but look young now a’ days. Then they show the same thing again, and it all became clear. We walked over the to bartender and asked him to turn up the sound. They must have shown that same video a thousand times that night.
A few weeks later, I was assigned to work on NASA computer systems that were being used by a private contractor. They were IBM ATs, where the rest of the world was using PS/2s. What amazes me is that they are still flying the same style shuttle and if a bird wing brushes it, they explode on re-entry.
Hening on January 28, 2008 at 1:46 PM
You bet I remember. My dad was a NASA Engineer so I always stayed on top of the space Program. It was a real downer I will never forget.
saiga on January 28, 2008 at 1:46 PM
Just in case, my answer is “in the oven, not fully cooked yet.”
thirteen28 on January 28, 2008 at 1:46 PM
I was sitting in my college’s student union building watching it as it happened, and noticed they instantly switched to commercial, and then Dan Rather (CBS was on) came on and with brevity, explained what had just happened.
ConservativePartyNow on January 28, 2008 at 1:46 PM
I was in the USAF, stationed at a classified location where we got news a day late, unless you worked in the communications dept as I did.
We were able to get some radio station patched into our systems so we could listen to the news and the first video I saw of the shuttle was months later.
Fuzzball on January 28, 2008 at 1:49 PM
I had 4 kids between the ages of 4 and 11 at that time. I have no idea where I was or what I was doing.
Connie on January 28, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Don’t remember (I was only two).
Some people posting here have parents who weren’t born yet at that time.
baldilocks on January 28, 2008 at 1:55 PM
I remember JFK. 6th grade.
I also remember RFK. My parents had gone to bed. I left them a note on the counter.
Connie on January 28, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Columbia’s sonic boom woke me from sleep as it passed overhead in Texas and I remember thing something sounded wrong about it. I went out to look and saw that awful sight of the multi-part retentry stream passing overhead. And I knew we’d lost some great adventurers before they ever announced it.
Challeger, I watched immediately after it happened in the office of the plant I was working in at the time; you people who were still in school really make me feel my age!
michaelo on January 28, 2008 at 1:59 PM
Starting a new life at 50 in MA after losing absolutely everything I owned when my company, which had gone international, went bust.
I was on my way to a production meeting for NewSong Community Church where I was, and still am, the Director of Worship Arts. The pastor said, “I guess we can’t continue now with the sermon series we’d planned.” An incredible statement coming from a pastor (who has since left the church to continue his previous life as an accountant. Better pay - which says a lot too.)
As for JFK - walking alone between science class and English in 8th grade. That’s what I remember, anyway - but why’d I’d hear about it between classes is lost in the fog … maybe there was an announcement … or they told us just as class let out and we all stumbled out the door in a daze.
Rod on January 28, 2008 at 2:06 PM
Westbound on the 91 freeway at the Bellflower exit.
csdeven on January 28, 2008 at 2:08 PM
I was working at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in the engineering department. My new bride was working in the orthopedic clinic and paged me, when I called her back she told me to go and find a TV set. There was one down the hall at the OB/GYN clinic waiting room and I sat there with the pregnant ladies and watched in shock.
A bad day indeed.
conservnut on January 28, 2008 at 2:11 PM
God bless those familys. I thought what President Reagan said was so profound.
…the have broken the surley bonds of earth, to touch the face of God…
kcd on January 28, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Wow! You must really be old if you can remember racing up the Long Beach Freeway!!!! ;-0
highhopes on January 28, 2008 at 2:13 PM
I remember I was in 10th grade and I was in I was standing in our bandroom taking care of some stuff, while ditching one of my other regular classes when the principal made the announement over the pa system.
I was very sad that day, went home and watched the news about it that night
Charger73 on January 28, 2008 at 2:16 PM
I must have been 6 at the time. I remember I drew a picture of the accident. As an artist, I guess that`s how I dealt with it as a kid.
ThePrez on January 28, 2008 at 2:17 PM
I was at Ft. Campbell, sitting at home shining my husband’s ‘parade’ boots and watching the lift off. Coming as soon as it did following the Gander crash it just seemed to me that we were in a period of never-ending national nightmares. I’d watched nearly every launch since the Mercury days and it just seemed impossible that such a thing could have happened. It seemed like we were returning to the black days of the 60’s in some ways. Mostly I recall how Reagan was a tower of strength during those days…..and I was, at that time, no fan of his and had never voted for him. But he had “the touch” it somehow seemed to soothe the nation’s soul. Or at least it felt so to me at that time.
dustoffmom on January 28, 2008 at 2:17 PM
LOL! I’m sure that’s true. That’s how I feel about so many current events now that I’m home with 3 little ones 7 and younger.
I was in 9th grade. A friend of mine told me in drama class, and I didn’t believe him. The teacher had to confirm it for me. In my next class period, the teacher had a TV and we watched the news reports.
TX Mom on January 28, 2008 at 2:24 PM
Yes, there was a time, sonny, when you could actually get up to about 65 or so - generally after 10:30 am until no later than 2 pm. I’d put an extra log into the ol’ boiler and set that brass steam valve to full open. Yee Ha!
Rod on January 28, 2008 at 2:27 PM
I was about to hit the rack after a mid watch in Adak, Alaska. I was an Third Class Petty Officer in the Navy, keeping an eye on the Soviet Union.
I entered my room just as they took off and stood in the middle of an empty barracks room and wept for the famlies I saw gazing up into the sky where their loved ones used to be.
al sends
afterdarknesslight on January 28, 2008 at 2:37 PM
When the Challenger exploded I was in 8th grade at 2nd lunch period. It was announced over the PA. I’ll never forget it.
gator70 on January 28, 2008 at 2:43 PM
I was in 12th grade Government class.
SimplyKimberly on January 28, 2008 at 2:48 PM
I remember it as well…
My first week on the Job at TRW in Sacramento. I was only 18, and had been a space program nut since I was a kid. We got our first hint that there was a problem from a radio report. The manager of our facility shut down all production, and we all moved into the executive suites to get in front of the TV to watch what happened.
I watched the news nonstop at night after work and in the early morning and continuted to for the next several days. Did the same thing in Desert Storm, and of course 9/11. I honestly thought through all of those events that the shared experience bound us as Americans. Now I witness that most folks don’t even remember what we felt on 9/11. The shortness of our national memory is the real tradgedy. Rest In Peace Challenger 7.
juanito on January 28, 2008 at 2:52 PM
Was serving as a Morse Systems operator at Elmendorf AFB, AK. Had just started a day shift and someone walked on the floor and announced they had heard it on the radio. We couldn’t watch any footage at work and I had to wait until I was home later that night. I remember my 6 year old daughter asking me why I was crying. We lived in Tampa during the Columbia; we had watched the launch, never realizing that it wouldn’t be returning. We used to hear the sonic boom if it passed over us on the way back home. Sadly, we wouldn’t hear it that day and I had to explain to another young child why I was crying. I’m tearing up just thinking about it now……
Jasech59 on January 28, 2008 at 2:57 PM
I remember getting the “Highlights” magazine in the 3rd grade and it had a little piece about writing in and nominating a teacher, or getting a teacher to volunteer to go into space or something like that. My teacher was Mrs. Moses, and she was way too old. I always hoped that some kid didn’t write in about McAuliffe and have eternal guilt about that.
melda on January 28, 2008 at 3:01 PM
I don’t remember this as I was born a few days after the fact (January 31, 1986) but I remember learning about it in elementary school every year around this time. It does indeed take brave people to venture to the final frontier, and all the Challenger crew is remembered and missed.
mattyj86 on January 28, 2008 at 3:28 PM
For JFK I was in study hall in my senior year in high school.
For Challenger I was in the control room of a nuclear power plant carrying out routine shift duties.
For 9/11 In my rec-room. I was a little over one year into retirement my wife and I were getting ready to walk our dogs.
Oldnuke on January 28, 2008 at 3:34 PM
I was in 9th grade leaving gym heading to English class. A student said that the shuttle blew up and nobody believed him until we got to class. I finally understood what my mom was talking about when she was telling me what she was doing when JFK was shot.
LoneEagle on January 28, 2008 at 3:36 PM
I was walking from the music building back into Bruce Hall at the University of North Texas when a good friend was walking out and told me that the shuttle blew up. I ran into the building to the tv room and it was packed. It seemed like it took forever to see a replay of the explosion… I remember it like it was yesterday.
cannonball on January 28, 2008 at 3:38 PM
Just to date myself, I’m a Space Race baby. I was born a few months before Sputnik. I’ve seen every manned vehicle launched by NASA. (not in person yet though, lucky you Bryan!) Some of you youngin’s don’t know what you missed in those early days.
And I remember well…I was at work in a deli. We had a radio tuned to the launch and a small b&w TV. At t-30, a co-worker said “I’ll bet it explodes.” I had been very excited about this launch, so he was just trying to get me aggravated. I think I told him to shut the hell up. 73 seconds after launch, we watched in horror as the vehicle came apart. He was mortified and apologized all day long. I don’t think I said anything to him the rest of the shift.
We watched Reagan give his speech just before closing. I was close to tears and couldn’t get out of work fast enough. It is one of my most memorably sad moments in my life.
I felt the same chill come over me in 2003. I had just got out of the shower and the wife called up to say the shuttle was having a problem. I switched on a tv to see the streak across the Texas sky and I knew instantly they were gone.
These brave souls shall always be remembered for their sacrifices. God Bless them all!
JohnnyD on January 28, 2008 at 3:42 PM
Like Bryan, I was in the 10th grade, I was in History class. The teacher was also a football coach (he was known for warming up to the girls in school…and married one years later!)
The announcement came over the PA system. I wonder if schools today would even bother, or if the people in charge now would shrug their shoulders and lecture about the American hegemony in space. Sad.
When Columbia fell from the sky, it was a Saturday morning and I turned on the news when I awoke. As soon as I saw the scene on the TV, and before the newscaster explained it, I knew that we had lost more brave souls.
Montana on January 28, 2008 at 3:46 PM
I don’t remember what grade I was in but I remember being in the cafeteria in elementary school and someone telling us something happened to the shuttle. I remember wondering if it was a joke and then finding out that it wasn’t.
I cried. I cried for Christa McAuliffe more than anyone else - you see, I had wanted to be her on that trip.
(sigh)
kippras on January 28, 2008 at 4:10 PM
Challenger: I was in Ft. Lauderdale, about 200 miles from the launch site. Went outside and watched the launch. When there was something obviously wrong with the launch, ran back inside work to watch the TV replays. Very sad day.
Columbia: Outside in SoCal flying a radio control airplane. One of my friends drove up and told me what had happened. Also a very sad day.
Snidely Whiplash on January 28, 2008 at 4:10 PM
LOL!
I lived in Long Beach from 1986-88, my first job after college. At the time, the I-5 was virtually open from San Clemente until you reached the Mission Beach area of San Diego. Quite the shock when I moved back to SOCAL in 2000!
highhopes on January 28, 2008 at 4:13 PM
I was in a Navy building in Maryland. Several of us were standing around shooting the breeze … one piped up “hey, something has happened to the shuttle”.
crosspatch on January 28, 2008 at 4:30 PM
I was in 5th grade, at a little elementary school called Kurth in a sleepy little east Texas town.
Joshua P. Allem on January 28, 2008 at 4:38 PM
I was at work. I was part of a small group that built proto-type and small order flex circuits. Some of the circuits we built were for the computers on board the shuttles. It turned out that none of our circuits failed but there were some very shocked (and nervous) people at work that day. (and beyond)
oakpack on January 28, 2008 at 5:12 PM
For the first (scheduled) launch of the shuttle, I was at water survival at Homestead AFB - the Air Force has boats? Who knew? We had a pool going for who would be up on the parasail when the launch went off - it was scrubbed that day, and quite a few of us spent some of our leave after the class was over watching the actual launch a few days later.
For Challenger, I’d just awakened from a very, very late night at the hospital with my wife and brand newborn son. My two year old (at the time) daughter had the TV on, and seemed to know what she was seeing wasn’t right -
On 9/11 I was in Salt Lake City to attend an Air Force conference - I’d just stepped out of the shower and saw the second plane hit live on NBC, after seeing the first confusing reports of the initial impact. I put on my flight suit, and headed down to the hotel lobby to meet the guys I was carpooling with - the desk clerk asked us “what’s happening?” - and I turned to her and said something along the lines of “someone is seriously asking for an ass whooping”. Her reply “well I hope they get it”
For Colombia - my now grown daughter and I had just gotten in the car to go to the business we were trying to make a go of. She turned the radio on in the car, and it was a newscast - although they didn’t mention accident or shuttle, within the first 10 syllables from the tone of the newscast, I said to her “something happened to the shuttle”. Unfortunately, I was right.
Wind Rider on January 28, 2008 at 5:29 PM
I was in 9th grade study hall when the principal made the announcement. I was crying that night watching President Reagan.
When the Challenger exploded, I had just completed a Navy Servicewide exam in Newport and saw the replay of the explosion. Definitely not good days.
Mooseman on January 28, 2008 at 5:52 PM
Never comment while multi-tasking. I was taking the exam when the Columbia exploded.
Mooseman on January 28, 2008 at 6:14 PM
I was working at Woolworth’s in El Cajon, California in the home electronics department. That pleased me because I got to watch baseball games, football games, and in this case the shuttle launch. Many of the store employees, including the store manager, came in extra early to watch the launch on the TV’s in my department. Every TV was tuned in to it. We watched the school kids in their classrooms during live shots. They were all excited and full of glee that their teacher was going to fly in space. Many smiles and well wishes and all the trimmings that come with such a unique and historical event. We watched the shuttle lift off. Everyone in the store cheered. As we watched the shuttle gain velocity and start to rotate for its ascent into Earth’s outer atmosphere, and eventually into space, we watched the shuttle explode.
They tracked the fall of the debris, live, for a bit until someone got their act together and cut from the live shot of the debris falling to a talking head who calmly and matter-of-factly stated that there was a “technical problem”. Then they went to commercial. I remember it like it was yesterday. Many of the employees cried and every one was depressed and sullen the remainder of the entire day.
RIP
SilverStar830 on January 28, 2008 at 6:19 PM
My mom was maybe three when JFK was shot, and while she didn’t remember that event, she remembers the funeral (the whole family watched, she said it was a ‘Catholic’ thing). My mother fell in love with JFK Jr, and she mourned for days when he died a few years back. I find it amazing how we remember things like that, and they stay with us and affect us decades later.
the goddess anna on January 28, 2008 at 6:43 PM
The Kennedy assassination, the first moon walk, Challenger and 9/11. Oh yeah. How could I forget? The Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show!
RedWinged Blackbird on January 28, 2008 at 6:53 PM
I was at school (3rd grade)watching the launch on TV. I remeber thinking there was something wrong but my teacher was just ooohhh aaahhhh, then when she finally got a clue she shut off the TV said nothing and we went back to our schoolwork.
HotAirExpert on January 28, 2008 at 7:15 PM
I remember because I was at work and my boss couldn’t believe I was glued to the report. I finally told him this is important because it was history happening before our eyes. As for when JFK was killed I was not yet five and don’t remember much about it.
limowilliam on January 28, 2008 at 8:03 PM
I was in my first semester back at college after four years in the Army, waiting for class to begin in what is now the RTFP building at the University of North Texas. When the professor entered the classroom that afternoon, the very first words out of his mouth let us all know what had happened. Class continued, but the mood was very somber.
p.v. cornelius on January 28, 2008 at 8:18 PM
It was cold that morning when I woke up…I was attending Nuclear Power School for the US Navy in Orlando on that fateful day. Coming out of class for lunch, my buddies and I were excited to be able to see the launch from the quad.
As we saw the explosion and realized what was happening, you could hear a pin drop…We all had tears in our eyes. Some of us said a prayer…others just stood in silence and disbelief.
The following days, the ominous lingering of the cloud that the explosion left behind sent chills down our spines.
God bless the crew and their families.
jnrz on January 28, 2008 at 8:41 PM
10th grade Biology with Brother Pettit (who BTW, is STILL teaching that class there!). I was actually about to kick John Przebleglic’s ass, since he was flicking water on me from the faucet. I started to move when the Principal passed the word on the PA about the incident. TV came out, and we watched it over, and over, and over again, in all our classes that day. I guess I forgot about John, never ever got back to finishing the job.
That was the first real disaster that gripped the whole nation since probably JFK. Seems a little quaint after 9/11. Oh, the luxury of worrying about things like that!
“…and they slipped the surly bonds of earth, and touched the face of God.”
JeffWeimer on January 28, 2008 at 8:54 PM
It was the beginning of the day, getting ready to go to work at my first duty assignment on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. I remember almost being late because I went back in to watch the news on my buddy’s TV.
rattrap47 on January 28, 2008 at 9:00 PM
2nd Grade, walking down the hall to the Nurse’s office and my friend Brian told me. I’ll never forget that.
The Hort on January 28, 2008 at 9:41 PM
Bryan: thanks for posting this.
I was at Indiana University, at the end of class, Music Literature, I think. A woman we knew came in and told us that something had happened to the Shuttle. I remembered hearing about problems with the Shuttle’s main engine turbomachinery during development in the late 70s and my first thought was that an engine had let go.
I walked back to my apartment where my roommate had the TV on and saw the replays. I remember in the days that followed watching the front page of the NYTimes for hints as to what might’ve gone wrong, and the first grainy photos of that tell-tale black cloud of smoke at the aft field joint.
I remember Reagan’s speech that night, and the missing man T-38 fly-by at the funeral at Arlington (or was that in Houston….) In any case, I applied for an internship at NASA-Lewis (now NASA-Glenn) in Cleveland that summer. And my first job out of college was at KSC, working on Shuttle ground system software. I was there for STS-26, the return-to-flight mission of Discovery, in September of 1988.
There were a lot of tears that day, too.
Purple Fury on January 29, 2008 at 12:30 AM
I was at a point of great change in my life. I had gone to school in Santa Barbara, one of the more favored cities of the world for beauty, climate, and culture. Unfortunately, it may be noted that “industry” and “opportunity” are missing from that list, and I’d spent some years after graduation “in exile” — though I managed to work my way back.
After a year and some in SB, I had reluctantly decided that I needed more opportunities for advancement than were locally available. An ex-girlfriend that I still yearned for had moved to Silicon Valley, and I had gotten a job offer there. I had made plans and arranged logistics, and just the day before had given notice.
So when I was working at a favorite client and they mentioned “the terrible news”, I started to think of something humble to say about the firm providing continuity of service regardless…
…and was totally dumbfounded when she said the Challenger had blown up.
I was a space-happy kid. My dad had helped design part of one set of boosters (Titan?). I had astronomy stuff all over my room in my youth. I had believed the NASA hype that “The Shuttle” was just like an orbital bus. Everyone with enough pull got to ride, just for fun — John Glenn had even gone back up as some sort of publicity stunt.
Where I had lost interest in the Great Adventure of Space, because it had been turned into policies and procedures and costs and benefits, it suddenly became a cause that seven people — who surely knew the risks that the media had insulated us from — gambled and lost their lives to advance.
I’m not generally a religious person. My client was All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito, California — and I thank them for the time I spent that day in their church, for it was sorely needed.
If you’re hit by a truck or fall off a ladder, prudence dictates that you make your way to a hospital. If your self-importance, your human empathy, your “sophisticated” ennui, your dreams, and your ego are simultaneously clobbered — you can do much worse than a small, quiet, Craftsman-style place of worship to mull things over until you feel presentable.
cthulhu on January 29, 2008 at 1:42 AM
Out of graduate school. Where’s my wheelchair?
rightwingprof on January 29, 2008 at 7:49 AM
I remember it too, I was asleep in 9th grade algebra (I had a wrestling match after school and this was seventh hour) and the girl sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked if the space shuttle had blown up. I thought she was making a snide comment about my “much needed and well deserved nap”, so I told her to shut up and then put my head back down. It wasn’t until eighth hour (and the announcement that the match had been cancelled) that I found out that it had indeed blown up. And yes, I did apologize to the girl the next day AND never slept in algebra class again (I slept in biology instead).
srhoades on January 29, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Comment pages: « 1 [2]