Random 9-11 Question

[SoCalGirl]

The Child of the 80s question got me to thinking.
Those of us that can remember the 80s likely know exactly where they were when the Challenger exploded. I was in 3rd grade and remember a teacher swiftly rolling a tv into the classroom. We spent all day watching it explode over and over. I'm sure everyone knows where they were on 9-11 and remember watching the footage repeatedly.

Did any of your children, or children you know, experience what I did in the 80s? A schools desire to make sure we didn't miss out on history.

I just remember on 9-11 hoping that no school was putting their kids through that. But then again, shouldn't they?

[SAE1955]

I remember that quite well. My situation sounds exactly the same as yours. Probably 3rd or 4th grade, sitting around the class and watching it explode. I don't think that was nearly as terrifying as 9-11 though I can't imgagine what kids today think about all of this. While we are on the subject. I've heard some pretty disurbing things lately about what our government knew preceding 9-11. I don't mean to be a conspiracy theorists but I have heard that there is factual evidence that persons of high power in our country knew what was to come. Supposedly the reason no action was taken was for power and economical reasons, which is a seperate discussion altogether. But anyway, I hate to even begin to believe this, but just what if....How would you view the structure of our society if you knew the basis of what we stand for are lies...?

[Kevin]

I remember that very well also.. I was in the 1st grade. At the time I was very into space exploration type stuff... So I actually knew at the time that there was only one Challenger shuttle
There was also Atlantis, Enterprise and I can't remember any others...


I can imagine though.

[Betarulz!]

Originally posted by ktsnake

There was also Atlantis, Enterprise and I can't remember any others...

The Space Shuttle Fleet Consists of:

Columbia - The worlds first reusable space craft of any type
Challenger - obviously the orbiter was lost...it should be noted that it was not the shuttle itself that exploded, but the external tank, and that explosion destroyed Challenger
Atlantis
Discovery
Endeavour - The newest Shuttle...delivered in 1992

Enterprise was the name of the drop model shuttle. Basically it was a model that only had representations of the engines, but had a working flight control system (rudder, ailerons and such flight surfaces). They take the drop model up on a 747 and then "drop" to see how it's handles in the earth's atmosphere.
Originally it had no name, but a massive letter writing campaign by Star Trek fans got NASA to name it Enterprise, despite the fact that it was never designed to fly in space. I think some Trekkies were dissappointed to find our that it wouldn't actually fly in space...


As for the 9-11 topic at hand. I know that the friends I had in HS watched it all day. So did my little brother who was in 8th grade. I have no idea about any one younger though. I could ask my cousins this weekend...

[Optimist Prime]

I hope so. I watched it.

[aephi alum]

I remember every detail of when I first learned about the Challenger disaster - just as I remember every detail of the morning of 9/11.

I was in 5th grade religion class. A girl came into the classroom with a blue slip of paper - she'd been sent from the school's main office. My teacher took the paper, said "Bad news always comes on blue paper," then opened it, and announced that the Challenger had been destroyed. We spent the rest of the class session watching the news and praying.

[ZTAngel]

I was living in Japan at the time. I was in Kindergarten when it happened. I just remember waking up in the morning and my dad telling me about what had happened (it happened in the wee hours of the morning Japanese time). I didn't really understand at the time what had exactly happened because I was so young.

[AlphaSigOU]

I was stationed in Germany in the Air Force (I was a cook) and was just getting to work the night shift in the dining hall at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany (Germany's six hours ahead of Eastern time). Shortly after the handover from the day to the evening shift one of the cooks from the day shift rushed into the kitchen and announced that the Space Shuttle had blown up. Immediately, we turned on the radio and listened to the news reports on Armed Forces network (and on Radio Luxembourg in German).

I got the early out that night (which meant that I worked an eight-hour instead of a twelve-hour shift). Most everyone in the barracks was up and watching video footage of the explosion on the news.

To further clarify Betarulz! post, this is the list of Shuttles, in the order they were built and the origin of each orbiter's name:

Enterprise (OV-101) - Originally to be named Constitution, a massive letter-writing campaign by fans of the Star Trek TV series was enough for NASA to change its mind. Enterprise was originally intended to be converted into a flight-ready vehicle after completion of the approach and landing tests, but budget cuts prevented that from happening.

Columbia (OV-102) - Named after a sailing frigate that was one of the first U.S. Navy ships to circumnavigate the world in 1836; also the name of the Apollo 11 command module.

Challenger (OV-099) - Named after a British naval research vessel that conducted explorations of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; it was also the name of the Apollo 17 lunar module. Challenger was built from a structural test article, hence the -099 designation.

Discovery (OV-103) - Named after discoverer Henry Hudson's ship; also was the name of Captain James Cook's ship which discovered Hawaii.

Atlantis (OV-104) - Named after the first U.S. vessel to be used for oceanographic research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Endeavour (OV-105) - Named after Captain James Cook's first ship; also the name of the Apollo 15 command module. [i] Endeavour was built from spare parts set aside in the event one of the orbiters was lost.

Interesting bit of trivia: NASA astronauts and technicians seldom refer to the orbiters by their names; most times they refer to them by their numbers, such as 102, 104, etc.

[KappaKittyCat]

I was four when the Challenger exploded. I was sitting on the living room floor playing with Legos, my mother was ironing, and we were watching the launch together. It exploded and I remember laughing and clapping and saying, "Ooh, look, Mommy, pretty!" because the cloud was shaped like a goose. My mother told me to be quiet, that it wasn't funny because a lot of people had just died. That's the first time I ever remember seeing my mother cry.

There was a schoolteacher on the Challenger. My mother is a schoolteacher. I wonder whether that had anything to do with it.

[astroAPhi]

My big sis is a structural engineering at United Space Alliance. Endeavour is her baby, because it's the orbiter she trained on. She always calls it 105.

I honestly didn't remember the Challenger incident. I had just turned four. I'm surprised I don't, because I've wanted to be an astronaut since I was born, practically.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I didn't see the Challenger explosion until I returned home from school, although students in the astronomy class saw it happen live. I was in the cafeteria when the astronomy students came in and told us what had happened. One of the teachers from my school had applied to be on the Challenger, but wasn't selected. We, as her students, had been very disappointed until that awful day.

[MooseGirl]

I know i was in school when it happened...around grade 3...but my class was not watching it and i hadn't heard much about it.

After school my cousin called me (she's just 2 yrs older) and she was telling me all about it..how the teacher was going up and my cousin's class was watching it and how sad it must've been for the teacher's students cuz they were watching too...

but that's all i remember...i'm not even sure if the image in my head of the explosion is really it or just something from a movie...