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Challenger 7: 30 Years Ago
http://darrickdean.com/2016/01/13/challenger-7-30-years-ago/ ^

Posted on 01/18/2016 6:17:27 PM PST by truthfinder9

January 28th marks 30 years since the Challenger Disaster.

Seems so long ago, yet it is one of those days people never forget. School was out that day, probably because of bad weather, and I remember watching on television the news showing the explosion over and over.

I will never forget.

We didn’t give up on spaceflight that day, but I wish more would have seen the real promise of the Final Frontier. Instead, many in government still see it as another “get-elected-for-a-few-years” opportunity. The vision of government sees only through the next election cycle, not seven generations hence.

There are those who are far more forward in their thinking. Those who are tired of the others who have given up on the human spirit of adventure. The spirit that created pioneers, frontiersman and explorers. That spirit is in all of us, even if those in power have forgotten.

We can best remember and honor the Challenger 7, and all those astronauts who light up the sky on the National Astronaut Memorial, by looking and forging ahead.

By remembering pioneers are still needed, frontiers need explored and danger can never be eliminated.

Honor those who tried, those who failed, those who succeeded and those who gave the last full measure.

Let the future not say we gave up, forgot or ignored.

If we do, there will be no future to look back on us.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: anniversary; challenger; challenger7; nasa; shuttlechallenger; spaceflight; spaceshuttle
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1 posted on 01/18/2016 6:17:27 PM PST by truthfinder9
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To: truthfinder9

Damn, am I really that old? I remember watching that on TV.


2 posted on 01/18/2016 6:19:06 PM PST by taxcontrol ( The GOPe treats the conservative base like slaves by taking their votes and refuses to pay)
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To: truthfinder9

We didn’t give up spaceflight that day. We gave up spaceflight when the next moon mission became skylab.


3 posted on 01/18/2016 6:20:36 PM PST by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: taxcontrol

I was in middle school, 13 years old in the 7th grade (Cue 80s music). A group of kids came in and started laughing at the TV screen and was promptly suspended. I watched the screen rather indifferently until the Teacher told me what was going on. Yes, can’t believe it was that long ago either.


4 posted on 01/18/2016 6:23:46 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: truthfinder9
We didn't give up on spaceflight that day...

No, it took until 2011 for that to happen.

5 posted on 01/18/2016 6:28:29 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Death before disco.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I was at college, walking by the student union with the tv and long rows of cube couches for commuter students to park themselves between classes.Sat down at that tv for the rest of the day, missed all my classes.


6 posted on 01/18/2016 6:35:55 PM PST by libertarian27 (FR Cookbooks - On Profile Page)
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To: truthfinder9

Stayed home from work but came out to watch the liftoff. Couldn’t believe what we saw. Numb.


7 posted on 01/18/2016 6:40:11 PM PST by W. (Dammit, I made a great tagline and forgot to write it down!)
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To: truthfinder9

Watched it live and in person on the ground in Titusville, FL. from the parking lot of my high school. A lifetime later, I watched Columbia live and in person on the ground in DFW through the sunroof of my car.


8 posted on 01/18/2016 6:40:39 PM PST by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: taxcontrol; All

we both are that old. I remember watching it on tv myself...


9 posted on 01/18/2016 6:43:28 PM PST by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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To: truthfinder9

Her mother’s facial expressions, I’ll never forget it. Joy turned to confusion, disbelief then heartsick. It was like being punched in the stomach, I literally felt her pain.


10 posted on 01/18/2016 6:44:06 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I was in my lunch break at work in Electronics Park Bdlg #6 Cathode Ray Tube Operations, when it was on TV and saw it explode. It was one of those moments.


11 posted on 01/18/2016 6:45:59 PM PST by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: truthfinder9

I was around 20 miles from Dodge City, KS, waiting for two other people. When the first one showed up she told me the Challenger had exploded.

The first question and answer: Yes, the school teacher too.


12 posted on 01/18/2016 6:49:58 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: truthfinder9

3rd grade. Home from school, too, and I can’t remember why. But I watched it with my dad & it’s one of those pivotal moments in my childhood.


13 posted on 01/18/2016 6:51:12 PM PST by surroundedbyblue (Proud to be an Infidel)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

I wasn’t far from you then. I was in Frisco getting ready for a job interview.


14 posted on 01/18/2016 6:52:12 PM PST by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: truthfinder9
What I remember most is President Reagan's address to the nation. That night he was supposed to deliver the SOTU, but instead he spoke directly to a shocked and grieving nation.

I believe the address is still on YouTube. Unlike President Numnutz’s self-serving bloviations, President Reagan's speech showed true leadership.

15 posted on 01/18/2016 6:53:12 PM PST by fatnotlazy
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To: truthfinder9

Shared an apartment with a friend, he woke me up to tell me about it.


16 posted on 01/18/2016 6:53:13 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: truthfinder9

Challenger disaster. Very tragic and sad. Seems like five years ago. Please, hold the Christine jokes although they did relieve a lot of stress.

I have family members on the designing crew of the Shuttle and learned that the problem was hasty production of the O-rings. The solution is to encourage employees to get a full night’s sleep and to encourage the careful production of parts.

The image of the five white smoke lines expanding further and further apart still brings sadness.

Canceling the Shuttle program and deleting 200K jobs in Los Angeles was the cruel act of selfish and crazy politicians.

I remember when National Geographic called the Shuttle the best machine ever in history. True.


17 posted on 01/18/2016 6:55:18 PM PST by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94))
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To: BuckeyeTexan
A lifetime later, I watched Columbia live and in person on the ground in DFW through the sunroof of my car.

I was up early in California in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I was on Free Republic. I was sipping my cup of coffee and remembered that it was supposed to be visible overhead. 'Should I go out and look? Nah, too sleepy still.'

18 posted on 01/18/2016 6:56:10 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: truthfinder9
I even remember the song that was playing on my car radio when the broadcast was interrupted to report the crash. It was the song "Russians" by Sting.

I was living rent-free at a relatives house at the time as they went to Florida for the winter and it was my job to keep an eye on their house and the driveway shoveled. I immediately went to that house and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the coverage on their old fashioned TV with the rabbit ears. They even had a rotary phone in the hallway on top of a doily on a small round table. That was a very strange winter. The next year, I got married.

19 posted on 01/18/2016 6:58:49 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: cripplecreek
We gave up space travel when the political message became more important than the mission.

No disrespect to those who lost their lives that day, but the crew photo for that mission looked like the cover photo of a Federal EEOC enforcement manual.

Perhaps not coincidentally, so did the photo of the ill-fated Columbia mission years later:


20 posted on 01/18/2016 6:59:44 PM PST by Alberta's Child (My mama said: "To get things done, you'd better not mess with Major Tom.")
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