I was at work.
One of our I/T support people told me (erroneously) the shuttle had blown up on the pad.
At lunch, everyone was staring at the video at a downtown Macy’s store on the TV’s.
One of our I/T support people told me (erroneously) the shuttle had blown up on the pad.
...
The engineers who warned management that there was going to be an explosion thought it would be on the pad as soon as the solid rockets ignited.
One of our I/T support people told me (erroneously) the shuttle had blown up on the pad.
At lunch, everyone was staring at the video at a downtown Macy’s store on the TV’s.
I was a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Member at Grand Forks AFB. On that day I was driving out to C-0 (one of the alternate command posts , ACP) Launch Control Facility to complete my training to be on a ACP crew.
It was snowing and I entered the facility and got out of my vehicle the Facility Manager told me the Shuttle had blown up. I walked into the building topside and saw on the TV in the lounge the pieces of the Shuttle raining down into the ocean (real time, not replay).
I almost got jacked-up by the Flight Security Controller as I stood and stared at the TV rather than showing my ID and checking in.