40th anniversary of the Challenger shuttle tragedy

[Inky_Wretch]

The JFK moment for Gen X (along with 9/11, I guess) where we all remember exactly where we were when it happened - mainly because so many schools had wheeled out TVs on those rolling carts for us to watch it.

NASA and families of fallen astronauts mark 40th anniversary of space shuttle Challenger accident

 

[Cosmo]

I was out of school that day. My dad always had WMAL -- DC's news station -- on the radio in the car. He had taken me to get a haircut and when we got in the car, they broke in with the news of the disaster. We just sat there for a bit in stunned silence. Obviously saw it on the news later, but I'll never forget hearing about it in that way.

 

[Driftwood]

I was out of school and sledding. We watched the early coverage on our small portable TV because I had already set the VCR to record Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big floor model cabinet TV because that's where we had the satellite antenna hooked up.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I was in fourth grade. Each room at our Catholic grade school had an old black and white television in the room. We did not have the launch on when it occurred but the fifth grade class, which was across the hall, did. When the shuttle exploded, Mrs. Sherbine came to our room and told our teacher to put on the television. Pretty sure that was how we spent the remainder of the day and I know that is what we watched all evening.

 

[Dyno]

I was a senior in high school. We had a snow day. I was excited I was going to be able to watch All My Children as it aired and not recorded on my VCR. I didn’t watch the launch live. As I recall, there were no plans for us to watch it at school if we hadn’t had the snow day.

 

[dixiehack]

Snow day. Slept late. Rolled out of bed to catch The Price Is Right. Instead I got a lot of very somber men talking over footage of a stunned Kennedy Space Center.

When the snow melted and we were back to school, it was amazing how quickly jokes went viral among 10-year-olds in a pre-Internet age.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I was a senior as well. The English class I was in didn't have it on. We didn't find out until passing period as other kids told us about it. My lunch period started at 11:30-ish (about an hour after the launch) and we had an open campus back then. So several of us piled into a buddy's car and went to a nearby Pizza Hut for their $5 personal pan pizza meal deal. The owner/main DJ of the most popular Top 40 radio station was on air giving live updates (from watching TV and relaying what was being said). The one TV in the Pizza Hut had ABC's coverage on.

By the time we got back to school, every teacher had acquired a TV and just sat and watched coverage the rest of the day.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

When the snow melted and we were back to school, it was amazing how quickly jokes went viral among 10-year-olds in a pre-Internet age.

"What was the last thing Kristy McAuliffe said to her husband: You feed the dog and I'll take care of the fish."

And yet we are amazed our society has no empathy.

 

[dixiehack]

What’s the last thing she said to anybody?

“Hey, what’s this button do?”

 

[SixToe]

Was walking across our university concourse when a friend told me the news. Ran over to our student union building, which had two giant TVs and CNN was on. Went to my next class and announced, "Did y'all hear that the space shuttle blew up this morning in Florida?" Silence. Professor walked in and canceled class. Sat with my roommates watching CNN for the rest of the day.

Maybe 10 years later I told that story with some friends and my wife said, "THAT WAS YOU?" We were in the same class together but didn't know each other then.

 

[Driftwood]

We had a teacher in the county - not at my school - who was a finalist for the teacher in space ride. I personally didn't know the guy, but I remember it being a big deal in the paper "Weren't you glad you didn't make it?"

 

[DanOregon]

Experts Warn That There's Something Wrong With the Moon Rocket NASA Is About to Launch With Astronauts Aboard

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Can't recommend this book highly enough. Primarily about Challenger, but includes a history of NASA and the entire shuttle program, and also the Columbia disaster. Remember a passage from it where after the first shuttle launched and was successful, NASA people looking at each other and saying something to the effect of, "Holy ****, that worked? I can't believe it didn't blow up!"

 

[SixToe]

The pressure was overwhelming from "higher ups," exerted on the engineers and those who wanted to postpone due to the cold temperatures. The latter knew that Challenger's O-rings were a problem. Top brass didn't want a delay or other issues. Had to be a sparkling clean White America Success Story, not to mention all the money spent-involved, and then they went into blame-game CYA mode after the explosion.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

And some of those engineers carried the guilt of not getting the launch postponed the rest of their lives.

40 years after Challenger: Lingering guilt and lessons learned

 

[Here me roar]

I was a senior, in college. I had finished classes for the day and was riding the elevator up to my room when a friend got on with me and told me about it. I do not remember the rest of the day but I would have spent it at the newspaper office.

 

[BTExpress]

Can't recommend this book highly enough. Primarily about Challenger, but includes a history of NASA and the entire shuttle program, and also the Columbia disaster. Remember a passage from it where after the first shuttle launched and was successful, NASA people looking at each other and saying something to the effect of, "Holy ****, that worked? I can't believe it didn't blow up!"

View attachment 21817

His Chernobyl book is excellent. Think I'll have to pick this one up.

We actually published an "extra" edition in Fort Lauderdale that was available by mid-afternoon. Only other one during my time there was for O.J. verdict almost 10 years later.

 

[MileHigh]

11th grade history class. Teacher who was also the baseball coach came back in and told us and we didn't believe him.

 

[Woody Long's Twin Brother]

We watched it live in my kindergarten class just before being dismissed for the day. My teacher quickly turned it off after the explosion, but I knew something bad had happened. I walked the six houses home, turned on the news, and haven't stopped watching for 40 years. For me, it was a formative moment that led directly to my career in journalism, so much so that I wrote about it for my application essay to graduate school.

 

[MTM]

I was a month into my first gig with a daily newspaper sports department. We were a p.m. and since the front page was mostly made up, the publisher/owner told the editor to put the story on A2.
He went to his service club meeting, where everyone was talking about the explosion, and came back and told the editor to tear up the cover and put it there.
Rare huge breaking news on our cycle and it was almost relegated to page 2.