[snopercod]

You mean the space shuttle Challenger? No, that was pre-FR. Oh...you must mean the Columbia.

BTW, I did help launch the Challenger - I was sitting at the C-9 (instrumentation) console for that one - tape recorders and such. I still recall the screen in front of me freezing on the loss of downlink. The booster chamber pressure readings had fallen off on one side. It was an emotional time.

The next day I walked throught the VAB and the Discovery was hanging there in the horizontal, preparing for ET mate. I wondered if I would ever see it launched.

Eighteen months later, I did. I got the entire STS-26R crew to sign my pilot's logbook ;-)

[truthandjustice1]

"BTW, I did help launch the Challenger - I was sitting at the C-9 (instrumentation) console for that one - tape recorders and such. I still recall the screen in front of me freezing on the loss of downlink. The booster chamber pressure readings had fallen off on one side. It was an emotional time."

My mistake. Getting old.

But I would pay good money to hear your story. I'll help you do an outline.