The Challenger
 

I was following the link that SmartBlondeGphiB posted on the Seahawks, and saw an article on the Challenger. I had no idea that happened 20 years ago today!

Even worse, the name of the article is Seven Myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster. Among them is the fact that the astronauts did NOT die instantly; they lived for about 2 minutes 45 seconds afterwards. Wild stuff for those into NASA and the Space Program!

I too was in the 1st grade when the shuttle exploded.

It was early in the morning, and many of us came to school early because we wanted to all watch the liftoff together. It was a special morning because Ellison Onizuka, a hometown hero, was among the crew.

I still remember being 6 years old and horrified at what happened. The principal came over the PA and we said prayers for the lost crew. The local news stations ran pieces on Ellison Onizuka all day that day, and whoever wanted to go home could go home. :(

I can't beleive that was 20 years ago.

I think I've said before that my uncle worked as a subcontractor for NASA (through PanAm), and designed the original gantry, which is the elevator that the astronauts take to get into the actual capsule). So, I've been interested in the lift offs since I was little.

I am just shocked that they were still alive after the explosion!

It was huge news where I'm from as well, being the hometown of Christa McAuliffe.

I was in 6th grade, home sick from school. I remember my mom's rule was "no tv"- if you were too sick for school you were too sick for tv. I laid in bed and watched the news all day long. Very sad!!

I was just going on nightshift duty at the chow hall at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany when it happened. (Germany's six hours ahead of Eastern time.) One of the guys who just got off dayshift ran into the kitchen and told us the news, and we immediately tuned our radio to Armed Forces Network, while the German civilian KPs listened in on RTL (Radio-TV Luxembourg) German programming.

I got the early out (working an eight-hour instead of a 12-hour shift) that evening; most everyone was still up at 0200 hours watching the news rerunning video of the disaster.

Hard to believe it's been 20 years... on Sunday, it'll be 39 years since the Apollo 1 tragedy, and on February 3, it'll be 3 years since Columbia's last flight.

It was a huge shock to me because I looked at those names and felt like I almost knew them. I mean yeah it was a bit superficial, but I think we could have been best friends.

That launch has been studied extensively in public policy circles and that author doesn't know what he's talking about on a few points he tries to make.

-Rudey

Jim Oberg's no slouch when it comes to technical knowledge about the space program. As for the political aspects... well, that can be a bit tough to pinpoint without getting into one's personal political beliefs. There's always some strings being pulled behind the scenes... :)

I am really dating myself:

I was in college when the tragedy occurred. The fact that Judith Resnick was a Carnegie Mellon alumna really hit home for many of us.

http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/26/news/art2c.jpg

"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 good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." -- Ronald Reagan

The rest of President Reagan's speech is here.

Onizuka was a big story here in Denver as well since he studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Since we're all talking about where we were, I was Production Manager at an NBC Owned TV station and was in the Chief Engineer's office -- next door to mine -- when the News Operations Manager came in and told us.

We spent the rest of the day juggling news programming -- which never got on the air because the network news organizations pretty much took control.

I was in school. I walked into the cafeteria and saw the students from the astronomy class who looked devastated and shocked. Someone said, "They're dead. They're all dead." That's how I found out. I was glad that I didn't watch it live. My youngest sister and her class did, and I think that she had post traumatic shock for months after.

I remember a few years earlier one of my teachers had applied to the teacher in space program which is how Christa McAuliffe was selected. I was so glad that she was not chosen.

I remember it - I was home waiting to go to school. I remember feeling really sad, and I remember my mom's reaction as she watched with us.

My cousin in California went to a school (elementary I believe) that had been named after Christa McAuliffe. I imagine that may have been the case in other parts of the country as well.

As a side note, her mother spoke at my National Honor Society induction in high school. Her address (and the accompanying slide show) were extremely moving.

I was in my freshman astronomy class at UT when I found out. At the time, my father was the assistant news editor and Page 1 designer at the paper where I've worked for almost 16 years (he retired about 10 years ago -- yay for nepotism). We were an afternoon paper then, and one of my first thoughts was that Dad would be working overtime. It happened just after he'd sent the A1 dummy up the pneumatic tube to the composing room. (Things certainly have changed. I miss the sound of that tube.) I was a journalism major, and he brought home a proof of the new front page for me.

It was the first time I realized that if you want to work in a newsroom, you have to be able to put your emotions in a little box when a tragedy like that occurs, and just get on with the job. You can think about the ramifications later. And if you can't do that, you need to find another line of work.

I have a couple friends in broadcasting. They've told me that, when tragedies occur, the sick jokes start flying like bees to a hive. Having a sick sense of humor myself, I can imagine how that would relieve the tension of having to deliver news that's really horrific.

I know, it sounds terrible. But if you don't have a dark sense of humor in this business, it would be far too depressing. I see wire pictures every day that we couldn't possibly run. Seriously, there were pictures after Katrina far worse than what you saw on the news, and those were bad enough.

I don't remember the tragedy as I was only three at the time.

However the space camp I worked at summer after freshman year of college did a very powerful briefing to the campers about the tragedy...

While the article says the Reagan Administration didn't order the launch (which is true, there was no "order", there was still political pressure to get the launch going. There was supposed to be the State of the Union address broadcast which helped contribute, but far greater pressure just existed in the program as a whole. The shuttle was supposed to represent, at least to some extent, NASA making money to offset the cost of flights. Part of the reasoning behind a reusable vehicle fleet was that there could be a much greater US presence (in terms of having a flight up) in space without a space station. NASA was essentially using Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis in rotation. One was in orbit, the other in pre-flight prep/on the pad, and the third in post flight processing. Columbia was being used essentially being stripped for parts for the other shuttles. Challenger was the eleventh launch from January 1985 to January 1986...just amazing how flights they were putting up. That sort of schedule was political pressure and one of many contributing factors to the tragedy...

It's weird because I learned so much about it, and yet very few people my age even remember/have any idea about it.

Living not only in Houston but the SE side in Clear Lake wear knowing in astronaut is considered normal, this tragedy hit me very hard. I was actually living on the poor side of town in Seabrook TX when I saw the Challenger explode on television. School was canceled, it hit everyone very hard. My mother still tells the story of calling the school immediately following the accident and the receptionist was in complete tears and hung up on her. It’s hard to think about, I had astronauts as soccer coaches and the children of astronauts some of which died that day in my classes and the footage of the Challenger exploding still chokes me up till this day.

Unofficial memorial sites to the fallen American astronauts:

Apollo 1 (AS-204): http://www.datamanos2.com/apollo_burning.html
Challenger (STS-51L): http://www.datamanos2.com/icarus_rising.html
Columbia (STS-107): http://www.datamanos2.com/phaeton_descending.html

Let us not forget also the Russians who gave their lives in their space program:

Vladimir Komarov
(Soyuz 1, 1967)

Georgi Dobrovolsky
Vladislav Volkov
Viktor Patsayev
(Soyuz 11, 1971)

I was in 9th grade and I really can't believe its been twenty years. I remember watching in Science class and everyone being so excited because a school teacher was on the mission. When the Challenger exploded my entire class screamed and cried.