25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster

[MillCreek]

At 1138 hours local time on 1/28/86, the space shuttle Challenger broke up over the Atlantic Ocean 73 seconds after launch.  I am remembering the crew today.

[BridgeRunner]

Same year.

1986 was the first year I had any historical awareness.  I know many people my age for whom that was a defining moment. Of course, I mostly remember Christa McAullife, and all the kids who never got to be her students.

[AZRedhawk44]

I was watching this in my 2nd grade classroom on TV, live, just expecting to see a cool Space Shuttle launch.

[SADShooter]

I was in a freshman english class watching the launch. We were all excited, and then horrified.

Yahoo News is displaying a photo of the explosion, which I find really tasteless and inconsiderate.

[TommyGunn]

I was living in Connecticut at the time and was at work at my job in Wilton Ct. on lunch break.  Unforttunatly the first word of the Challenger tragedy came from a co-worker who was known to be somewhat of a prankster.  He came in the lounge and said "the Challenger just crashed!"
Not believing him, I went outside to my car and turned the radio on -- where I heard news announcements about it. "Crashed" was not the word I would have chosen but of course Mr. Prankster was, for once, giving out the straight dope.  
What a disaster.  President Reagan gave a great speech.  And it shut the shuttle program down for two years which was dumb since there was no problem launching it in summer.  
Actually those boosters SHOULD have been designed as single-piece units, then there would never have been a need for rubber "O"-rings.    But of course they had to be made in Utah so they had to be able to be shipped to Florida ... so they made 'em in parts.
And seven people died.

[AZRedhawk44]

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

1985 CNN video footage and original commentary.

I guess I'm too sentimental over NASA and space exploration... watching that again literally brought a tear to my eye.

[HankB]

. . . Actually those boosters SHOULD have been designed as single-piece units, then there would never have been a need for rubber "O"-rings.    But of course they had to be made in Utah so they had to be able to be shipped to Florida ... so they made 'em in parts.
And seven people died.    

IIRC, Aerojet in Florida had a seamless booster casing solution, but it was Sen. Jake Garn of Utah - ironically a former astronaut himself - who insisted that the boosters be "rail transportable." And Utah-based Morton-Thiokol got the contract. (Surprise!) And people died.

Speaking of contracts, didn't NASA spend billions building a shuttle launch facility in California, which they then mothballed immediately upon completion? A nice little "treat" for California . . . and California construction unions.

Wondering why NASA hasn't been effective the way they were with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs? Instead of people like Werner Von Braun running things, we have political brown-noses in charge. Instead of buying the best parts for the best price, contracts are let based on which politician is going to bring something home to his district. Instead of hiring for excellence, NASA hiring managers have a diversity policy to satisfy.

And on and on and on. 

(And don't forget the phony "environmentalism" that contributed to bringing down the second shuttle. )

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Junior year in HS. I was sitting in the principals office getting chewed out for some antics, it was a weekly thing, and the news hit the TV. Principal excused me, I went back to class. It was a very somber day.

[AZRedhawk44]

The CA launch facility was used one time for an Air Force Space Shuttle mission.

It's still use-able, supposedly.

I wouldn't be surprised if 1 or 2 of the decommissioned shuttles are quietly transported to CA and mothballed somewhere safe and accessible, where they can be brought online for some sort of orbital emergency if our relationship with the Russians becomes strained or their launch capabilities are compromised.

The multi-piece SRB bodies make sense if you want to be able to launch the same equipment in various places across the country or around the world.  Utah was a good choice for a facility to deliver SRB's to both CA and FL.  Good rail access.

If the only launch facilities were to be on the East Coast, then a sea port town would be a good choice for a manufacturing base.

[HankB]

The CA launch facility was used one time for an Air Force Space Shuttle mission.

It's still use-able, supposedly.

Which mission would that be?

Wikipedia mentions the $4,000,000,000 NASA spent on the shuttle facility, and declared it operational in October 1985. but the only planned launch (STS 62A) appears to have been cancelled after Challenger. By July '86 the facility was in "operational caretaker status", which became "mimimum caretaker status" by Feb '87. September '89 brought "mothball" status and all shuttle assets were transferred to KSC.

The base is now apparently only being used for regular rockets that have to go into polar orbits.

[41magsnub]

3rd grade..  watched it live in class

I also remember some of the tasteless jokes following it.   

[MillCreek]

I was sitting on my office at the law firm going through some medical records in a case.  They made an announcement over the PA system, and we all gathered in one of the conference room to watch the event on TV.  I watched the President's speech live at home later that day.

[AZRedhawk44]

You're right, Hank.  I thought they actually launched one from there.  It got cancelled.

I had always heard that the facility could be easily re-opened.  Guess it's been mothballed to too low a status for too long now.

[Jamisjockey]

I am one of those 30 somethings that was in school, watching it live on TV.     I was in 6th grade and its one of the few real memories of that age that I have.

[AmbulanceDriver]

10 years old, was watching it live down in Brazil, about a year before we moved up to the US.  I was too young to really comprehend the importance of that event, but I remember being very sad.  This was maybe a year after my Dad had bought me a book on one of his business trips, "The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual". 

Hrm.  Might need to see if I can find that book again (was stolen during the move from Brazil to the US).

[MillCreek]

10 years old, was watching it live down in Brazil, about a year before we moved up to the US.  I was too young to really comprehend the importance of that event, but I remember being very sad.  This was maybe a year after my Dad had bought me a book on one of his business trips, "The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual". 

Hrm.  Might need to see if I can find that book again (was stolen during the move from Brazil to the US).

http://www.amazon.com/Space-Shuttle-Operators-Manual-Revised/dp/0345341813

I wonder if this is it.  Sounds like a cool book.

[Gowen]

I was a senior in high school and I was on the way to my drafting class when I heard the news.  We watched replays on TV in class.

Sept 11 will be the same, I can tell you where and when I heard the news.

[Tallpine]

Wow, youngsters ...   

Our twins were "in the oven" and I was working the winter at a high mountain resort doing handyman/mechanic stuff.

I was outside doing something or going to do something when somebody stepped outside and said "they just lost the space shuttle."

My first thought was "how can you lose something as big as a space shuttle "

[BridgeRunner]

See, I was in first grade and I remember where I was but my mother swears I am wrong.  I KNOW that we were at the dentist's office near my grandma's house.  Dr. Hood was a really, really awesome dentist who had been practicing for about fifty years and was really skilled in doing basic dental work with neither significant pain nor anesthesia, so we would, twice a year, take a day off from school entirely, drive 90 minutes down to Adrian, MI, and spend the day getting all six family members caught up on dental care.  That day happened to the the day Challenger blew up.  I was bummed to not be in school, but six back to back appointments had been scheduled months earlier and there was no rescheduling.  There was, however, a tv in the dentist's waiting room, and so my sister and I, the older kids, went first so we'd be done in time to watch the launch.  The rest is history, and we drove back to my grandma's house and alternately were distracted by the grown-ups and forgotten by them as everyone watched the tv.  I remember seeing the video replayed several times that afternoon.

My mother swears that it's all an invention and that we were in school that day, so who knows who is right.  Memory is weird.  

I definitely remember 9/11, but I remember most distinctly the hour or so before I found out.  I'd just gotten out of my parents' house and moved into the dorm at school, and had some hope for the future for the first time in a long time. By that I mean I considered the possibility that I might survive to full, normal adulthood--life had been pretty sucky for me for a while.  I remember walking across a little bridge on campus experiencing joy for quite literally the first time in months and thinking optimistic thoughts, then walked up to my dorm room and saw the video of the second plane hitting the tower through the open door of another girl's room.  And while my life got better, the US curled up in a sad little fearful ball in the corner and hasn't gotten up yet.  

I don't think we're ever going to recover from 9/11.  Few people seem to even want to anymore.  Our new normal of fear and suspicion became so institutionalized so fast that it can never be easily extricated.  

[AZRedhawk44]

I don't think we're ever going to recover from 9/11.  Few people seem to even want to anymore.  Our new normal of fear and suspicion became so institutionalized so fast that it can never be easily extricated.  

9/11/01 (An aside, we need a name for that day.  Something that bestows infamy upon those that attacked us.) was impactful, and made me angry certainly.

But it didn't hit me with the frustrated sorrow of a wonderful thing encountering inexplicable tragedy.  Challenger was just sorrow and frustration and ultimately a desire for us as a country to improve ourselves and raise the bar so this doesn't happen again.

I'm very disappointed in America's response to 9/11 (Jihad Day?  Vengeance Day?  Retribution Day?).  Too much sorrow, not enough vengeance.  Too much focus on the EMT/Police/Firefighters, even 10 years after now, and not enough focus on kicking the ever-loving crap out of those who attacked us.  Our SEAL/Delta/Ranger teams should be working 120 hour weeks, doing sneakykills in Africa, the Middle East and central Asia.

[Gowen]

I'm very disappointed in America's response to 9/11 (Jihad Day?  Vengeance Day?  Retribution Day?).  Too much sorrow, not enough vengeance.  Too much focus on the EMT/Police/Firefighters, even 10 years after now, and not enough focus on kicking the ever-loving crap out of those who attacked us.  Our SEAL/Delta/Ranger teams should be working 120 hour weeks, doing sneakykills in Africa, the Middle East and central Asia.

Kind of hard to do when we have a muslim sympathizer in the White House.

[lee n. field]

I was sitting on my office at the law firm going through some medical records in a case.  They made an announcement over the PA system, and we all gathered in one of the conference room to watch the event on TV. 

And the cynic in me wonders "who got billed for that time?"

[TechMan]

http://www.amazon.com/Space-Shuttle-Operators-Manual-Revised/dp/0345341813

I wonder if this is it.  Sounds like a cool book.

I have that book!  The copy that I have has a copyright of 1982.  It is a cool book.

I was a sophomore in high school.  I was in the band room (band geek) at the time and I heard about it and some friends and I ran up to the library to see the news coverage.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Yep, that's the one that I had.   Gonna have to order it....

[RoadKingLarry]

I was home from Groton CT. on emergency leave to attend the funeral of my wife's grandfather.
It was the first shuttle launch I had ever gotten the chance to watch live on TV.