Challenger - 18 Years

Ronald Reagan ^ | 1-28-86

[Indy Pendance]

The 25th mission in the Space Shuttle program, flown by the Challenger, ended tragically with the loss of its seven crew members and destruction of the vehicle when it exploded shortly after launch.

Back row from left to right: Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist; Christa McAuliffe, payload specialist; Gregory Jarvis, payload specialist; and Judith Resnik, mission specialist.

Front row from left to right: Michael Smith, pilot; Francis Scobee, commander; and Ronald McNair, mission specialist.

[Petronski]

It was a Tuesday, almost midday, and I had just finished in the dining hall (my freshman year), when dormmates said "You know the space shuttle blew up, right?"

"BULLSHIT!" I replied.

"Hey, dude. I wouldn't joke about that. It's on CNN."

So I raced back to the dorm, carrying my coat in the frigid cold and sure enough, those horrible pictures replayed on CNN over and over and over.

God bless Peggy Noonan for her work on this speech. It is positively golden.

[Indy Pendance]

I was really pregnant. I was so pregnant, I delivered my daughter the next day, she will be 18 tomorrow. To me, this day will be more poignant than November 22, 1963, which I was 5. This day I will never forget. It was such a shock, the first thing I thought, there is a teacher on this mission.

[NYC GOP Chick]

I was in my junior year of college and was living in a first-floor guest room in the house (because of a badly broken ankle and heel in a car crash). Since I arranged to have all my classes in the morning, after lunch, I was in my room watching my TV with a couple of fellow slackers, ready to settle into an hour of All My Children when ABC broke in with the awful news. We were in tears the rest of the day and evening...

[HungarianGypsy]

I was 12. My 7th grade class had just come back from seeing a play (field trip). The rest of the time after we came back was watching the television in the library. When I wrote my Argentinian pen pal about getting news clippings from her local paper (in general) she sent me two describing Ronald Reagan at the memorial service for the Challenger team.

[DouglasKC]

I was in the Air Force and had just come home and was fast asleep after pulling a 7 to 7 night shift. My wife woke me up and told me that the space shuttle blew up. She had been watching it live. I was awake instantly and ran to the TV to watch the replays.

I think for many in my generation (I'm in my early 40's now) this was one of the first events that was seared into our consciousnesses.

[Orangedog]

I was in 10th grade...I had overslept for school by two hours...again. Woke up to my mother screaming "Get your ass out of bed NOW!" First thing I did was turn on the TV just as the shuttle exploded. All I could do was just sit down and stare at the screen. My mother came in, yelling, as usual, until she saw what was going on. Then she told me not to worry about school that day. That was the first national disaster I saw as it happened.

[Indy Pendance]

You're my age, we remember JFK (I was 5) getting shot, but we were little kds. The Challenger was the first real thing that shook our bones. At least mine were shook, and it's one of those things in life that I'll never forget.

[Indy Pendance]

My second National disaster was the WTC and 9-11. heart stopped for a minute......

[KangarooJacqui]

I was 13 when this happened... child of a former NASA tracking station technician and one of those children who was FASCINATED by the shuttle programme.

Also being an Australian, this event hit the news in the middle of the night. I was asleep, and I had the radio on, tuned to a music station.

They must have interrupted the music (unusual as most stations went to tapes between 2 and 6am) at some point to announce the disaster, but I don't remember waking up. What I do remember is dreaming about a shuttle exploding in the sky after liftoff...

"What a horrible dream," I thought to myself.

And then I heard the news.

18 years on, I still remember the shock and the horror.

(FR footnote: I was watching TV when Columbia broke up on re-entry early last year. Chris, the late Trappedinliberalhell, came downstairs having woken late. I told him the news, in a shaky voice - and he dashed upstairs again to check the threads on Free Republic. When he told me about a post in which someone had mentioned a memorial service the Columbia astronauts had had on board for the Challenger victims, at that point I lost it. I left the room, and sobbed my heart out in the kitchen for about five or ten minutes.)

[Viking2002]

I remember this day like it was yesterday - it was heart-wrenching when I saw Reagan deliver his speech. I honestly felt like it was a personal body blow. And as much as it was one of our worst moments as an American family, Reagan took our grief and made it one of the proudest moments of American resolve. God Bless the Challenger Seven, and God bless Ronald Reagan.

[Petronski]

Odd. Very odd. I happened to be home from school sick the day Reagan was shot.

[txhurl]

Bump for this terrible tragedy. We were all there.....

[Indy Pendance]

I'll never forget this day. This day is scarred in my memory, where were you, what were you doing when you heard this news. It's scorching.

[Viking2002]

I'll second that God-bless-them-all bump......*BUMP*

[Petronski]

Thanks for the bump, but, what is your story of that day?

This could be a great thread if we got just 10% of all Freepers to encapsulate their moment in their own words.

[Petronski]

Continuing blessings to you, Jacqui.

And...it's odd for me to hear the recollection of someone who was on the other side of the globe at that moment. Thanks.

Unforgettable...our generation's November 22, 1963.

[Orangedog]

Ever get the feeling that there were some things that seemed like the universe deemed that you were meant to be in a certain place at a certain time to see? The timing for when I turned on the tv was creepy.

[.38sw]

I remember that day so well. The Teacher in space alternate, Barbara Morgan, was an acquaintance of mine. We played in the small chamber orchestra (I played viola) in the small central Idaho mountain town of McCall. She played violin and flute, and was (probably still is) a wonderful musician. So of course, I was particularly interested in this flight. Barbara was a team mate of those who died that day, and felt the loss so keenly.

[Nexus]

One of my favorite things to draw back then was the Space Shuttle. I was eight when the Challenger exploded, and it certainly introduced harsh reality into my life. I didn't draw much after that.