25 years later: Challenger
 

Surprised there was no thread on this, happened 25 years ago today.

I was also surprised to learn that most people did not see this live on TV, even though they believe they did. Only people that did were watching via satellite. Kids in school that had the NASA sat feed and personal sat feeds. If you were watching broadcast, they cut away when it happened and you saw a taped version.

I was in school and we got to watch the NASA feed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JOjcDFtBE

I was also in school and saw it live.

its one of me earliest memories

I was no longer in school then, so didn't see it till the evening news.

I was in Germany and saw it on AFFES, I believe.

Same here. :(

Saw it live in the library at school. I remember not being affected by it at all and everyone else was freaking out - I guess when you're five years old it's hard to understand that sort of thing...

That said, I saw a Challenger commercial last night on TV and I was thinking, 'somehow this is ironic'... then I saw this thread. Cool car though:
http://www.nextconceptcars.com/wp-co...enger-grey.jpg




And who else remembers the old joke... "What's the last thing Christa McAullife said to her husband before leaving the house that morning?"...

wait for it...



wait for it...


not yet...


almost...

"you take out the trash and I'll feed the fishes"...

http://www.oregonfeederinsects.com/fishFOOD.gif

I honestly am not sure if I remember where I was at... I do remember it though... sad and one of the many great tragedies I have been alive for.

In school and saw it live also. Its hard to believe two out of the five shuttles have catastrophically failed.

I was 4 1/2, and dont remember it at all.

Me too.

We were watching it out of the windows from our Junior High cafeteria - we were about 75-100 miles away from the Cape. We watched it launch and then fall apart. It was surreal. Very somber for the remainder of school that day.

Same. Was in Germany. Saw it on AFN.

I was Still in my Mothers Belly...About two months previous to my birthday...But its weird how eerily calm the NASA Control person sounds...Not even a reaction to the explosion.

Dude probably didnt even know what happened, was just reading off his control screen

Ya, they couldnt actually see the shuttle. I think it took a few moments to realize what happened.

Christ, I'm getting old.

yeah, i wasn't quite 4 yet... didn't really know what was going on.

Pfft.

I have bath robes that are older than you.

JC

We had a snow day that day. I was the only one up in the house. Watched it live

Ah...the need another seven astonaunts..NASA.

Dude, that's just nasty.

I was a freshman in HS. We had a teacher work day so about 1/2 dozen of us went skiing up in Boone.

I remember my buddy Andy wasn't that good of a skier. He and I were riding up together, and didn't get off at the intermediate slope because he couldn't get off the chair in time, so we rode up to the difficult slope at the top.

He had a bit of a panic, but I tried to talk him into snow-plowing down. He tried and ended up flying down the slope and wiping out pretty bad. I skied down to him. He was PISSED and took his skis off and WALKED the rest of the way pouting and huffing. He wouldn't talk to me, but I stayed there with him.

The slopes seemed to be empty. And it was a LONG walk back.


By the bottom he had icicles forming on the end of his nose.

We got to the lodge and walked in to see everyone there that day glued to the one TV in the bar. The shuttle had blown up about the time we reached the top and everyone was watching.

I'll never forget that day.

some old challenger jokes i can remember :

What was the last thing that went trough Christa McAullife's mind?

The Dashboard


How Many Astronauts can you fit in a Toyota Camry?

11. 2 in the front, 2 in the back, and 7 in the ashtray.


Did you know how they knew that Christa McAullife had dandruff?

They found her Head and Shoulders on the beach.

What color were Christa McAullife's eyes?

Blue.

One blew this way, and one blew that way.

JC

you guys are terrible, lol

But you laughed!

Meh I remember watching peter jennings report the day of. The columbia disaster was a bit more personal since the engines and a lot of parts crashed into fort polk and we were doing a stint at jrtc at the time. Nothing like waking up to a warno that everyone was to stay in the tanks to avoid falling debris