Do you remember where you were?
posted at 11:38 am on January 28, 2008 by Bryan
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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.
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Somehow I completely missed this (though I was only six and a half). My first recollection of the Challenger disaster was a Punky Brewster episode about it.
I certainly remember waking up to see about Columbia.
frankj on January 28, 2008 at 11:42 AM
I definitely remember where I was. I was a cadet at the Air Force Officer training center in San Antonio. I remember the event in clear detail. We were all stunned. Three weeks later, we became second lieutenants.
liberty on January 28, 2008 at 11:43 AM
amerpundit on January 28, 2008 at 11:43 AM
I was in the 1st grade and we were watching it on TV.
EnochCain on January 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I was returning from my honeymoon when we heard it on the radio. We went to her parents house, it was the closet to watch the replay on tv.
Just A Grunt on January 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I remember. I was a junior engineer working in design lab that morning in Cherry Hill New Jersey when the news came in. We all raced to the cafeteria to watch the news on television.
Some of us even cried.
Kini on January 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I was in kindergarten at Thacker Elementary in Kissimmee, FL. From there we could see the shuttle launches and the teachers would take us outside to watch them. I still remember my teacher crying and trying to figure out what to tell us.
So yeah I was 5 or 6 years old and still remember very clearly what it looked like to watch that first hand.
bj1126 on January 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Yes, sadly I remember it well.
RIP to all our fallen astronauts, from Apollo I, in 1967, to Challenger in ‘86 and then Columbia in ‘02.
Gus Grissom himself said it right before he died… nothing worth the risk ever comes completely without a price.
A hearty salute to our fallen heroes.
Always Right on January 28, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I was in tenth grade too, home sick that day.
And for the Columbia disaster, I was in Ft. Lauderdale, working as an Operations Agent for SWA. On our computer weather screens we could see a long streak across Texas.
Both were very sad, as were other disasters in NASA history, but America keeps on going.
Tony737 on January 28, 2008 at 11:47 AM
I was in the 4th grade… and was in home room watching with all my class…
salute the heroes… we will remember you always.
if you guys could link this
http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/challenger.asp
Kaptain Amerika on January 28, 2008 at 11:47 AM
I still have a poster on the wall in my basement with a portion of the speech that Ronald Reagan gave in the aftermath of this event. The poster shows the Challenger lifting off and has the faces of the 7 astronauts around the border.
Just A Grunt on January 28, 2008 at 11:47 AM
At sea, underwater, a day away from port. We had come up to periscope depth that day and we received some radio traffic that said “the shuttle had went down”. It wasn’t until the next day when we got into port and I saw it on TV that I understood the full extent of what had happened. I’ll never forget the feeling of shock that went through me when I finally saw the replay.
thirteen28 on January 28, 2008 at 11:48 AM
I was in High School science lab watching the launch on TV. Something none of us will forget.
infidel on January 28, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Another one of those ‘moments’ that we remember.
Personally, I was helping my father fix our window on Long Island with snow on the ground when my brother came downstairs and told us that “something” happened to the Space Shuttle but he didn’t know what.
Why can’t every president be Reaganesque. That was such an amazing speech.
God Bless them all
HarryStar on January 28, 2008 at 11:48 AM
I’d just come home from work when my brother called to tell me about it.
thekingtut on January 28, 2008 at 11:49 AM
8th grade, third hour Science class – Felt like a medicine ball hurled at me, class was silent (except for those crying).
SkinnerVic on January 28, 2008 at 11:49 AM
DLI at Presidio of Monterey, CA learning German. I was a twenty-four-year-old AF sergeant. I was in the break room getting coffee. Several other students from four of the services and a few instructors were there also. The TV therein was on and Challenger’s ascent was on every channel as was the norm back then. Suddenly, it exploded in front of our eyes.
On a lighter note, there are a lot of babies in here. :-)
baldilocks on January 28, 2008 at 11:49 AM
I watched the launch on TV that morning. Walked upstairs and was ready to head out the door to go to college classes and heard the radio say… we interupt… and I immediatly knew there was a shuttle problem.
AndrewsDad on January 28, 2008 at 11:49 AM
4th grade, Bay Point Elementary, St. Pete, FL. Same same. Only we had a guidance councilor that afternoon that had another presentation to give with a puppet so she just said “Oh yeah that was bad, it blew up all over the sky…Now the REAL reason I’m here today is to talk about…” Ahh public schools.
McLovin on January 28, 2008 at 11:50 AM
I remember, I was at work and the news came over
the walkman, my stomach just sank and everything just
froze,much the same feel on 9/11, the fist thought
was this can’t be real, please God don’t let it be real.
jadedlady on January 28, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Grade 10; took the day off school, and our family was visiting my grandparents. I happened to be watching the launch, too.
I was at home, channel-surfing when Columbia happened.
Frozen Tex on January 28, 2008 at 11:51 AM
I don’t remember where I was but I do remember tears.
Shy Guy on January 28, 2008 at 11:51 AM
All too well. It was the last day I did drugs.
No kidding.
Sitting home alone on my couch that morning, a very long night nearing completion, then the shuttle exploded… on live TV. It was horrific.
I just shook like a leaf… then called someone for help.
shooter on January 28, 2008 at 11:51 AM
I was a senior in high school. A teacher in the next class yelled to turn the TV on. We all just sat there in disbelief.
Comes from my favorite poem, High Flight.
KelliD on January 28, 2008 at 11:52 AM
I don’t know what will haunt me the most about this tragedy; seeing the explosion live on TV that morning, or watching Reagan’s tearful “Touch The Face Of God “ address that same evening.
pilamaye on January 28, 2008 at 11:52 AM
I remember I was like 7 and I stayed home from school. I have a bad track record of those things happening. I stayed home for OK city, and on my first day from leaving the army, I stayed home during 911.
Anyway, my mom was a mess and all I remember was thinking that a spaceship blew up. It took some time later to realize the sacrifices made by those astronauts.
JVelez on January 28, 2008 at 11:53 AM
I had graduated from college in June and had a job interview that morning. Heard it on the car radio after the interview. I will never forget the confused looks on the faces of all those children at McAuliffe’s school who had gathered in an assembly to watch the launch — and the look on her mother’s face. Just awful.
Rational Thought on January 28, 2008 at 11:54 AM
…I wasn’t born yet.
HYTEAndy on January 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
It was Reagan’s greatest speech.
Labamigo on January 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Hey Bryan, Why did you leave NASA?
shooter on January 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
First job after high school, painting an apartment complex’s stairway, listening to music over a crappy, ‘Navajo white’-spattered radio, when a news flash replayed the liftoff voices reporting a “major malfunction”.
I then heard t.v.’s inside several doorways turned up louder and I followed the more complete news by their muted sound as I rollered my way down the three story stairwell all day long.
Didn’t see an image of it until that night at home.
Feynmann’s demonstration of an O-ring dipped into a glass of ice water, then pinched with pliers to show how it would retain the impression, and could then fail as a seal, was much later.
But it proved that the warnings about liftoff during a Florida cold snap were right. And were ignored. Fatally.
profitsbeard on January 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
I sure do. I had a doctor’s appt in an office bldg in downtown SF. It had been raining really really hard. When I stepped outside, the rain had stopped, the sun was out, but there was so much water, these small sewer caps they have in the sidewalk, had blown open and water was shooting up 2-3 feet in the air. It was bizarre, but something else was going on. There was this detectable buzz in the air. People just seemed excited. I finally asked a young woman what was going on and she told me. I was on my way to BART and she asked if she could walk along with me because she had the need to not be alone. So, we walked and talked.
Blake on January 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
I was just talking about this with a friend last week. It was the coldest I ever remember being in my entire life…
Sophomore at Virginia Tech. Classes were cancelled because of the record low temperature (-8° F). I heard about the Challenger on the bus going from campus back to my apartment.
Brat on January 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
I was on the road coming back home with a buddy of mine and his father. We had been gone over the weekend at his dad’s shooting range and just got back into the Atlanta area when the news came over the radio.
Benaiah on January 28, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Yeah, I do. I was at the suburban Chicago bank where I worked, watching in horror on a bad television in the basement coffee room. It was amazingly horrible.
Jaibones on January 28, 2008 at 11:56 AM
I was in college working part time as a user assistant for the computer department. It was a slow day in the office so I had the radio on and that was how I heard the news. It just floored me. You know its a possibility every time someone goes up but you never really expect such a thing to actually happen.
Rip Ford on January 28, 2008 at 11:57 AM
I was in Phoenix. I was westbound on I-10 and had just crossed over the Salt River, and I was looking at a National Guard aircraft parked over at the south side of the runways at Sky Harbor Airport.
God Bless their souls.
Brass Pair on January 28, 2008 at 11:57 AM
I was eating lunch on the mess decks of USS SARATOGA (CV-60) inport Norfolk, Virginia. I’ll never forget how the disaster put a palpable damper on the mood of the entire crew.
Corky on January 28, 2008 at 11:58 AM
Oh, yeah. I remember seeing the news every morning with the icicles and hearing talk about the O rings. Contract. Expand. Contract. Expand. Even then I thought this can not be good.
Ugh. It’s all a horrible memory.
Blake on January 28, 2008 at 11:58 AM
I had just walked into the Student Union on the University of Maryland campus. Every head was tipped upwards at the TV screens spread throughout the building, all tuned to CNN, all showing the white smoke trails from the boosters and the main unit flying apart. Nobody had words for it.
Eventually people would go outside and just put their heads down and move on. Man-on-the-street interviews by the campus newspaper printed the next day most echoed the view that we all had become too complacent. Space travel still was a hazardous adventure, and NASA needed to stop acting as if they had all the answers.
Bottom line from my point of view; the space shuttle was an attempt to do exploration on the cheap, that ultimately, probably has been more expensive and less reliable than rocket launches.
NASA put men on the moon multiple times when it ran on a shoe-string budge and was a labor of love for all concerned. By the time of Challenger, NASA was just another federal agency, and more people died not long after because the agency and the government had not learned that lesson.
doufree on January 28, 2008 at 11:58 AM
When I was a third year AFJROTC cadet in highschool I managed to get the autographs of the Enterprise test pilots.
I remember where I was for both Challenger and Columbia losses. I heard the Challenger loss on the radio while picking up friends for college. Four hours later, I broke down crying in the middle of class.
I woke up to a somber Shep Smith reporting of Columbia. The tears came faster that time.
ttevolla on January 28, 2008 at 11:59 AM
I think it was CNN …
doufree on January 28, 2008 at 11:59 AM
I will always remember, i had skipped work to watch this on my brand new 25inch tv i had just gotten from sears.
trailortrash on January 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
I was a senior at college just up I-81 from Tech. Funny you mention the cold because that’s a really big part of what I remember about the event too- though we didn’t cancel classes.
highhopes on January 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
I had the flu that day and stayed home from school. I remember watching it as it happened. I think I was in the 7th grade.
Torch on January 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
I was in 10th grade Standing at attention in JROTC When the DI came out with a solemn look He told us to stand at ease and then told us wheat happened. we were dismissed and then we went back into class to watch the news. one of my saddest Teenage days.
-Wasteland Man.
WastelandMan on January 28, 2008 at 12:02 PM
In the womb!!
AbaddonsReign on January 28, 2008 at 12:02 PM
I stayed home from school that day, and remember watching it live in the Dr’s office waiting room..
I was like 11 yrs old at the time.
(Either it was live or the replays, of the crash.. whatever..)
Chakra Hammer on January 28, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Mr. Orr’s 9th grade biology class – the room had a tv. The year before was when my dad showed me how to spot orbiting satellites while lying on the desert floor.
-
deesine on January 28, 2008 at 12:04 PM
I believe it was being covered by the BBC and I watched it live. Even from several thousand miles away I recall being numbed by the impact of what I had just witnessed.
Although painful, I like to think of these adventurers as space pioneers that literally risk everything to further humanity. That earns a big salute from me :)
LimeyGeek on January 28, 2008 at 12:05 PM
I was in 8th or 9th grade when the Challenger disaster took place. We heard about it but didn’t actually see it on TV. I was listening to my Walkman on the bus ride home and listened to the news all the way home. When I finally got home I raced to turn on the TV to see it replayed. It hit a little closer to home for me since my dad worked for Rockwell International and they were one of the big companies involved with the Shuttle.
Afterimage on January 28, 2008 at 12:08 PM
I was in grade school–4th or 5th grade, playing fly-up or warball on the playground when a friend of mine said, “Did you hear what happened to the space shuttle? It blew up.” Not believing what I heard I said, “You mean a computer on board blew up or the whole thing blew up?” “The whole thing,” was the answer. The rest of the day we were all numb, and when I got home I watched the replay, and Reagan’s speech about it.
p40tiger on January 28, 2008 at 12:09 PM
I had transported a veteran friend to the VA hospital in Mpls as a favor, and saw the disaster on one of the monitors. Never was there such silence in a hospital as at that moment, nor tears from so many men, until 9/11 I suspect.
MNDavenotPC on January 28, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Just home from the service the day before, I woke up, finished breakfast, got a fresh cup of coffee and said to my mom on her way out the door, “hey, the shuttle’s gonna go off in a sec, hold on….watch this….
Damn.
CBarker on January 28, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Tenth grade English class
urbancenturion on January 28, 2008 at 12:11 PM
I was in 8th grade at the Center for the Arts and Sciences in Saginaw, Michigan. I did not hear about it until I went to my afternoon earth science class. We spent almost the entire class period watching the coverage.
I still have the words in my head.
RR’s address that night was beautiful and comforting.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on January 28, 2008 at 12:11 PM
I was working for a retail sporting goods company and it was annual inventory day and everyone had to assist. We had the radio on and when the announcement was made it just got quiet and everyone was in shock and we just looked at each other. It cast a pall over the rest of the day.
They were true heroes.
atxcowgirl on January 28, 2008 at 12:14 PM
I was in 8th grade science class. We had all put our desks together with our friends, and were excited to watch it. I remember stunned silence, and then a lot of us girls were crying. I don’t remember anything of what the teacher said to us.
StephC on January 28, 2008 at 12:15 PM
11th grade English class. We didn’t have a TV in the room, but a kid in class had a little hand held TV (a pretty big deal at the time) with him so he could watch it.
Everyone- including the teacher- thought he was joking at first when he said that the shuttle blew up. Sadly, he wasn’t.
Hollowpoint on January 28, 2008 at 12:19 PM
First grade, just getting home from school to the babysitter/afterschool place, and they were watching the aftermath. I remember, being a youngin, expressing that the explosion looked pretty cool. I was reminded, rather sternly, that there were people in there. I guess I was just hoping that they had some way of getting out.
askheaves on January 28, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Damn. Grievous losses indeed. God Bless America.
Baphomet on January 28, 2008 at 12:21 PM
I was 10 years old, my mother had kept me home so I could take the bus with her to Flushing because she couldn’t carry heavy shopping bags. I was just killing time then turning the knob on the t.v. and I just remember for the first time in my life cursing in front of my mother ” Holy Shit ma look at this on the t.v.” When she saw what had happened she was too upset to whack me with the spoon for cursing. We didn’t go to Flushing and I remember feeling very sorry for the Astronauts. God Bless them
Joey1974 on January 28, 2008 at 12:21 PM
It’s funny, or ironic, being over 60, there were so many “where were you?” moments.
JFK, Berlin wall, Beirut bombing, beheadings, Bobby Kennedy, Reagan shot, twin towers, Okalahoma, walking on the moon, friends and family with dying, births, marriages, graduations, presidents resigning, Jim Jones, anthrax deaths, sometimes they just become a blur…the hype over Columbia, the taking off and disaster, watching the TV and filing it away as another disaster, and thinking what a shame, what a shock…and last weekend more kids were killed on the streets then this event. Such a volatile world, “but there by the grace of God…”
right2bright on January 28, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Statistics class in college. After listening to the professor drone on for 10 minutes I just got up and left–unable to focus or think.
Faith1 on January 28, 2008 at 12:24 PM
I was in 10th grade, sitting in study hall when a teacher came in and told us what happened. I didn’t see the footage until I got home. Later that day, I was in the barn working on my first car and the radio station I was listening to played “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. That’s when it hit me.
When Columbia went down, my wife and I had just gotten home from church, and I turned the TV on just in time to see the story break. I’ll never forget the look on the capcom’s face when he was trying to raise them on the radio. You could see him fighting back tears as the realization sunk in. When the flight director ordered the doors locked, you knew.
CurtZHP on January 28, 2008 at 12:24 PM
I remember watching it live in TV at school. Got home that day to find out my dad was laid off as well. That day stunk.
Tim on January 28, 2008 at 12:26 PM
I was watching it live on the news before I left for work (my work day started at 4:00 PM back then). When I got to work no one there knew it had happened. When I first mentioned it up a woman I worked with thought I was making a really bad joke.
Buford on January 28, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Indeed. I remember well where I was, and how desolate I was. Thanks for this Bryan. It saddens me to no end that we have to spend so much money on fighting ideologies/idiocies of so many centuries ago, and on unaccountable and government-sponsored socialist and anti-individual responsibilities crap, that we don’t put more of it into these kinds of programs. It’s sad that we’re not further along.
Entelechy on January 28, 2008 at 12:28 PM
I was in a Senior in Ms. Ungavary’s 5th hour Biology class at Pontiac Central HS…I remember she answered the phone and made a start like she’d got bad news. She then turned to the class and said “The Space Shuttle blew up!” We were stunned into silence (for once)…
Lssu91 on January 28, 2008 at 12:28 PM
I was in 10th grade gym class in Manhasset, Long Island
RobCon on January 28, 2008 at 12:31 PM
College student, in Cali, sleeping in until my late morning class. My younger bro came in to wake me at about 655 am when the news broke. he was crying. he saw it live on TV. w/in a few minutes i too was verklempt. We come from a family of aviators, and so we’re big fans of anything and everything that flies. we also know that sometimes things crash. a very sad day.
Mike D. on January 28, 2008 at 12:34 PM
I was standing in my boss’s office doorway, discussing the recent birth of a son to one of our favorite media reps.(Funny, I worked with the guy for four years but remember almost nothing else about him other than the fact we were talking about him at that moment.) Our graphic designer came running down the hall, telling us the Challenger just blew up, he’d heard it on the radio. We all went into the conference room and turned on the tv.
I’m a little amazed at the detail most people remember, even if they were only 7 or 8 at the time.
Quisp on January 28, 2008 at 12:37 PM
I stayed home because Judith Resnik had taught my recitation section of freshman phys-calc at Carnegie Mellon. She was a real sweetheart and very smart. 22 years ago – WOW. John McCain was a conservative then and a real Republican. So long ago.
bill30097 on January 28, 2008 at 12:40 PM
I was pregnant with my second child and couldn’t get my car started to go to work. I turned on the tv just as it happened. I still don’t remember if I got my car started and went on to work or not.
moonsbreath on January 28, 2008 at 12:43 PM
Eating lunch at Deshay’s restaurant in Lexington, Ky. We were watching the launch on a TV right over our table.
You know, a break in the conversation to watch the launch.
Then, my God.
BacaDog on January 28, 2008 at 12:47 PM
I was in my junior year at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona. Working part time at a sportings good shop in Ormond Beach. My buddy came running out of the back office where he caught it on TV. He just yelled at the top of his lungs “the shuttle just bew up!” We ran out back and looked south, the split contrails were quite visible. We both felt like we got severely punched in the gut.
bernzright777 on January 28, 2008 at 12:47 PM
I don’t mean to treat it lightly, but it reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes comic. The toaster burns Calvin’s toast, and he says something to the effect of, “When you consider how poorly everyday appliances work, it’s amazing that anyone ever gets on a plane.”
JS on January 28, 2008 at 12:48 PM
I was visiting Eglin’s Climatic Hangar that morning.
Zorro on January 28, 2008 at 12:49 PM
9th grade electronics class with Mr. Trendel. No TV, not even a radio, so the announcement was made over the PA.
steveegg on January 28, 2008 at 12:50 PM
I was a senior in HS in Largo FL (west coast), and I had gone out to the car for a minute because my boyfriend was helping jump someone’s car. I was inside revving the engine for him and turned on the radio. The rock DJs were taking about the shuttle disaster, and I quickly turned my head toward the east and could see the remnants of the explosion very, very clearly because it was a such cold, clear day.
By the time I ran back inside the school, the explosion was playing over and over on our school TV system as we all watched the news for the rest of the afternoon.
I agree that it was Reagan’s best speech, especially a domestic one.
acleaver on January 28, 2008 at 12:51 PM
I was walking downtown, spreading resumes after having lost a job two weeks before. We had a shopping area called The Galleria, and people were standing around in clusters talking about how it “just blew up,” “how they saw it on a TV in the office.”
In my gut I knew what it was. The more I heard little pieces of conversation, I more I knew it was true. I went to a McDonald’s in the food court and ordered a big lunch, but only ate half of it. My stomach had a knot in it the size of my head. I took a bus home to my parents’ house. My mom was in tears. My dad had cut a sales trip short to come back home.
Gottafang on January 28, 2008 at 12:53 PM
I had finished Grad School, and was still living in Philly, and I came home to Northern NJ for a job interview near where I grew up. So I was having lunch in my kitchen when I first heard the news.
I remember it was very cold in New Jersey that day. I also remember for the first time in my lifetime watching news anchors on the verge of tears while reporting the news.
Side note: It seems I’m a lot older than many of the posters here, and I didn’t think I was all that old!!
asc85 on January 28, 2008 at 12:54 PM
I, too, was in 10th grade home sick that day. I was listening to the Don & Mike show on the radio when one of the announcers said “the space shuttle has exploded.” My very first thought was “this is a joke” but I couldn’t figure out how they could make a joke out of that. Of course, I immediately turned on the news to watch what had happened.
CookeyD on January 28, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Was in second grade – we went next door to the third grade classroom that had a TV to watch it.
I remember President Reagan addressed the nation. I just went to the transcript and there was this passage:
He did know how to speak to us.
God Bless him and the brave souls that perished that day.
CP on January 28, 2008 at 12:55 PM
I was a stay-at-home mom, home alone with a 10 month old. I called my husband at work to tell him what happened.
Bad Penny on January 28, 2008 at 12:57 PM
I was in down town New Orleans having finished a training session for Chanel. I watched it on a tv at the department store the training was being held at.
Sadly, my dad’s birthday is January 28. He wanted to be an astronaut, but back when he was younger (Apollo days) you had to have 20/20 vision to be a combat pilot let alone an astronaut. We now celebrate on the 27th as it seems inappropriate to celebrate on the day.
I was luck enough to attend a shuttle launch back in 1984 and I still remember it vividly; it was so powerful!
Pulchritudinous Patriot on January 28, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Buying parts at the local electronics store. They had a TV on and the local station was carrying the network feed, ABC News if I remember correctly. Sad day, one of the few events in my life where I actually knew where I was and what I was doing.
HeavyHair on January 28, 2008 at 1:00 PM
I was working at my first job after college. We had a tv in the break room and someone came around to tell everyone that something bad had happened at the launch. We all just watched in stunned silence. It’s one of those times when you always remember where your were.
Same with Reagan getting shot. The Columbia breaking up overhead (yes we heard it in Dallas). And of course 9-11.
Aggie85 on January 28, 2008 at 1:02 PM
3rd Grade, in my homeroom because we had indoor recess. I was playing checkers with one of the other kids in my class. Our Pricipal announced it over the intercom system. It felt like a punch in the stomach. It was wierd, I had just turned 9 a few days earlier and I think it was the first time I ever felt the sting of a truly National Tragedy, not for lack of any, it’d been only a few years since the Beruit Barracks Attack, but when that happened, I was two young to fully grasp the weight of such things. I knew it was a bad thing, but the feeling of grief wasn’t nearly as strong. The difference between 5, 6 years old and 9 years old I suppose. I still hate it when they haul out the film every year on the anniversary of the Challenger disaster, it puts a dent in one’s spirit in some ways. It’d be far better if they re-played Reagan’s brief adress to the nation in the wake of the tragedy instead. It was the first time I had ever felt hope and comfort in another person’s words. Thinking about it all now, I realize I was truely growing up in remarkable times, in a nation under a remarkable leader, who, with a few well thought out words, delivered in manner that was both from the heart and down to earth, could assuage the feelings of grief and loss in a child who wasn’t accustomed to such.
I doubt I’ll ever forget that day.
SuperCool on January 28, 2008 at 1:03 PM
In Houston, in 11th grade, in the school library watching the launch. We sat in stunned silence. It was a very sad day.
pullingmyhairout on January 28, 2008 at 1:10 PM
I wasn’t even born yet, my mother was around 2 months pregnant.
BKennedy on January 28, 2008 at 1:17 PM
One thing I remember happening days before the launch. Some reporter put a microphone under Christa McAuliffe’s daughter–a little girl around five or six–and asked her what she thought of her mom going into space. She said that she didn’t want her mom to go because she was afraid that Mom wouldn’t come back. I’ll never forget that.
I hope that now-young woman is doing okay.
baldilocks on January 28, 2008 at 1:19 PM
I was in Social Studies, 9th grade at San Benito Joint Union High Scholl in Hollister California. Class had just commenced and I had just taken my first dip of Copenhagen, (and last I might add). I thought it was a joke. Someone said the Challenger had blown up and I was like, “Yeah right, sure it did.” That launch was such a big deal because of Christa McAuliffe. I’ll never forget that.
Geronimo on January 28, 2008 at 1:19 PM
I was working as a purchasing manager in Pompano Beach, Fl. I was crossing between two buildings and one of my buyers ran past and yelled, “The space shuttle blew up!” I stood there like an idiot for what seemed a hour. Then I looked north and realized what I had taken for an odd cloud formation was actually the smoke of the explosion.
oldleprechaun on January 28, 2008 at 1:25 PM
I was a sophomore in college and had just walked into J. Madison Davis’ English classroom. I didn’t see the TV footage until several hours later.
saint kansas on January 28, 2008 at 1:28 PM
I was working at a nursing home as a secretary and we were in the middle of a surprise state inspection so things were tense. The Director and one of the inspectors came into the office, strangely not at odds but united by something… and the DON said the shuttle had blown up. I went up to the patient’s lounge, but the tv “wasn’t working”; I never did find out if that was so or if someone disabled it as to not have people upset. I felt so out of touch and kept calling my mother for her to tell me what was being reported. There are so many things I remember about the astronauts, their families, but especially about Ronald Reagan and how he was such a comfort in that horrible time.
deedledee on January 28, 2008 at 1:29 PM
God, I must be the oldest one in this thread, on this site, on the Internet, in the world. I was 36, the young president of a even younger company, on my way to meet with an electrical engineer about a project my company was doing doing at the Texaco refinery in Wilmington, CA. Heard it on the news as I raced up the Long Beach Fwy.
Rod on January 28, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Nope. I will never forget either.
Bob's Kid on January 28, 2008 at 1:33 PM
I had just left a meeting at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago and was walking across a parking lot when a stranger driving by stopped and said that the shuttle blew up. I stopped in a bar next to the El station to watch the reports on TV. I got chills just typing this.
Mallard T. Drake on January 28, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Aggie85 on January 28, 2008 at 1:36 PM
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