Free Republic was documentably the first place where the Columbia disaster was reported. As I remember, a FReeper watching in CA (or somewhere out West) commented on how the re-entry didn’t look right.
It is quite a shame that we could not reliably do that now for the world at large, as the timestamp clock has been off ~15 minutes for ages.
[AP SCOOP] Space Shuttle Columbia Will Be Visible In San Francisco Area (6AM Pacific)
I remember when the thread started, then later seeing Fox showing the runway with the graphic saying the shuttle was overdue. I knew it was destroyed. It either shows up on time or not at all.