25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster

[Viking]

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

Explain? I've only heard about the idiocy regarding the Challenger, but nothing about the Columbia disaster. I know a piece of foam broke off from it, but not much else...

[RocketMan]

I had just gotten up that morning and turned on CNN as was my habit then.  I was working swing at a Motorola facility in Phoenix then, and typically slept until 0900 or so.
I sat glued to the TV until I had to go into work.

[KD5NRH]

I watched the President's speech live at home later that day.

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

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ``Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy.'' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: ``Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.''

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, ``He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.'' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ``slipped the surly bonds of earth'' to ``touch the face of God.''

[Stetson]

I was a Junior in High School and I was in Colorado History at the time.   It was a momentous occasion and we had 3 rooms of students in our classroom to watch the launch....there was applause when it lifted off the pad, then silence that lasted a loooooong time.

The rest of the day was pretty much shot as we all stayed in the library and watched the news on the big TV, or sat in individual classrooms and watched smaller ones.  Someone recorded the President's speech and we watched it the next day in the gym.  It kind of brought our whole school together. 

[Scout26]

I was in the commons of Devry University in Lombard, with several of my classmates.  We where standing around a table debugging one of our program's for one of our classes I disremember.

There were TV's hung from the ceiling in all four corners and all the shuttle launches were broadcast on the TV's, as many DeVry graduates went to work for NASA.

I remember looking up at the TV, watching the launch as the other around the table continued to examine, argue and debate the problems with the printout that was spreadout on the table.

Then it blew up.  I distinctly remember saying sotto voice "It's not supposed to do that."  That made everyone at the table look up at the TV.   

Then there was the NASA commentator announcement "Flight controllers are looking very carefully at the siuation, obviously a major malfunction." 

There was stunned silence for several minutes.  We just stood there. 

And I remember Reagan's speech.  When it comes to being a great orator, Obama isn't even in the same league nor come close to Ronnie. 

[Boomhauer]

Explain? I've only heard about the idiocy regarding the Challenger, but nothing about the Columbia disaster. I know a piece of foam broke off from it, but not much else...

Apparently the composition of the foam was changed due to the old foam having a "bad" chemical in it...the new foam came loose and broke off in chunks easily, the old foam didn't.



And should I mention that none of the operational shuttles had a viable egress system? (other than ejection seats installed in the Columbia for it's first few orbital flights). Apparently, the shuttle was viewed as "safe enough" and the escape system "too expensive" to warrant it (yet the shuttle program claimed 14 lives compared to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, which only claimed 3)

[MillCreek]

And I remember Reagan's speech.  When it comes to being a great orator, Obama isn't even in the same league nor come close to Ronnie.  

Few Presidents are.  Since President Reagan, I think President Clinton was the next best communicator, if not necessarily an orator.

[Antibubba]

That day, along with Nine Eleven, are one of the few days I can remember exactly where I was, and how I felt.  It still breaks my heart.