Remembering the Challenger - 19 Years

[silverleaf]

http://www.cnn.com/resources/video.almanac/1986/challenger/challenger.lg.mov

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.

[floriduh voter]

I remember I was in a popular building in St. Pete Florida, formerly known as the Skyline Restaurant Building - it looked like an upside down cone shape. It was freezing cold on our floor. The switchboard operator had a little b & w tv. She was loud anyway, but she yelled from her office "The space shuttle blew up!"

Since the building was surrounded by windows, everyone went to the east side of the building, WE WERE INSIDE AND IT WAS COLD, and watched it spiral and all the vapor trails were visible for at least an hour.

It was hard to do any work the rest of the day. SEEING THE VAPOR TRAILS.

When the Columbia broke apart over Texas, I was moving that day, and had no phone service or cable tv. Later that day, my brother said to me "that was terrible about Columbia" to which I say "WHAT"? I missed the Columbia launch (we can see them all from Tampa Bay), the first launch I haven't not seen here. I was unaware of the tragedy almost the entire day Feb. 1, 2003.

[stevie_d_64]

Man...

I still can't get through days like this...Can't watch those clips...

I grew up around this stuff, and was very close to a few of these fine folks...

I was in San Diego when we lost the crew of the Challenger...I gave my ships ball cap at Christmas to my Dad to give to Mike Smith to take with him, hoping to get some video or a photo of him wearing it, so I could post it in our crews recreation room...Never did find out if they recovered it...

My mom works in the crew office at JSC now...And knew all of the crew of the Columbia...She is still messed up by that one...That was a long day for everybody as well...

Pretty sad all around...

[BamaDi]

I remember it as though it was just last month. I had just gotten into my car in the Pentagon parking lot and when the radio came on they were talking about a catastrophy happening. I remember that I cried all the way into Old Town Alexandria and when I met my friend in a restaurant he didn't know what had happened. What a sad, tragic day for America. And I always remember the words, "reached out and touched the face of God" being spoken by President Reagan when talking about the Challenger crew. Then when the Columbia exploded it was almost virtually the same, I walked into the house from cutting my grass and on the radio they were talking about a catastrophic explosion and my first thought was Columbia! And again, the nation cried for true heroes!

[floriduh voter]

They did find the capsule or a large part of same, some of astronauts were still strapped in. The post disaster there was a recovery mission that was not covered widely by the press.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I miss the Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe. I loved their potato pancakes.

[queenkathy]

Yes I remember that I was waiting for my sandwich at our local Wendy's when the manager asked us if we'd heard that the Challenger exploded. I remember feeling so horrible as I watched the coverage over the next days. For some reason the teachers family hit my the hardest. Those kids were so small. Now 19 yrs later? What's become of them? Does anyone know?

[BamaDi]

The tribute was wonderful. Thanks much for posting it.

[Bart Ristuccia]

heroes indeed.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I was driving to lunch at Wendy's when the news came over the radio. I was devastated - I've been a space geek from day one, and growing up in Florida in the '60's you were surrounded by it. It was a very cold, clear day and it all seemed so unfair to me. My heroes have always been astronauts!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"Do you remember where you were, 19 years ago today?"

I was in some small corner of Germany for an Army REFORGER (Return the Forces to Germany) Exercise. You've never seen so many disheartened people when news finally got to us a day or so later. I still have my issue of "The Stars and Stripes" and their coverage of the disaster.

[hardworking]

I walked into the warehouse of my business and saw the sad look on a young worker's face and asked him what was wrong. He looked at me, with pain on his face, and said "The Challenger blew up". I was shocked, and realized that the warehouse workers were unusually quiet, with a sadness in the air. Since all of them were young (early twenties) at the time, I now realize that a mere 19 years ago the young people in our country cared deeply about what was going on. Today.......I wonder what the reactions would be among the public-school-indoctrinated young people. God bless the Challenger crew.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I remember. I was 16 years old and was watching it at school. Seeing it really put the hook in me. I find it deeply disturbing that so many 16 year olds were completely indifferent to the crash of Columbia in Feb. 2003.

[queenkathy]

Oh wow. That was just a good cry. Very moving tribute. Thanks

[hardworking]

I'm ready for privatizing space exploration

Amen to that!

[raccoonradio]

It's odd but true: all 3 US space program disasters happened roughly the same week. Feb 27, '67--3 astronauts killed in launch pad fire. Feb 28, '86--the Challenger.
Feb 1, '02 (IIRC)--the Columbia.

In the case of the Challenger: I was going into Boston for a job interview with the transit authority (didn't get).
Afterwards, I stopped for a sub in Kenmore Sq. and they had the coverage on TV. On the way back, I heard someone on the subway saying "I guess they won't be having that 'lesson in space'". It was an extremely cold day in Boston and much of the nation--and the extreme cold in
Fla. contributed to the 0-ring situation.

As for the Columbia, I remember turning on the TV on a Saturday morning, day before my birthday, and wanted to see what the weather would be like (snow was on the way).
On the channel that it happened to be on: "Space Shuttle
Apparently Disintegrates Over Texas". Two feelings at once:
disbelief, and a pain in the pit of my stomach...realizing instantly that yes, this was happening, and that the
astronauts had been killed.

[queenkathy]

That pic of the Lord's Prayer? I'll bet that couldn't be posted on Government property today.

[chief911]

Haven't been to that area for awhile, but heard it was all gone. Sucks! A lot of the buildings were less than 5 years old when the base closed.

[hattend]

I was sitting in a big circus tent in Germany participating in REFORGER.

Sad day.

[admiralsn]

I still get choked up every time I hear President Reagan speak of "touching the face of God."

[ecurbh]

I was in middle school, and some of the classes had watched the events live, so I heard people talking about it in the hallway between classes. In band, the teacher came in and confirmed what had happened. We spent most of the rest of the day watching the news coverage.

I still have the newspapers of the day and one of the news magazines in my file cabinet.