Seventeen Years Ago Today

January 28, 1986 | Ronald Reagan

[general_re]

I remember this also. It happened on my birthday.

Small world - I remember the Challenger explosion quite clearly, at least partly because January 28 is my birthday.

Hey, happy birthday to us, anyway ;)

[RonF]

"There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space."

This promise has not yet been kept.

[mykdsmom]

Happy Birthday!

[WaveThatFlag]

Classic Reagan a'la Peggy Noonan if I'm not mistaken.

"'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'" Where did she get that line from?

[NonZeroSum]

36th anniversary. It happened in 1967.

[mombonn]

I can remember this like it was yesterday,

So do I. I was at my desk, watching the market. It was going up; suddenly, everything was going down.

I said, "Something has happened", scrolled to the news headlines, and sat stunned disbelief. My daughter was 5 at the time, knew that a teacher was going into space, and I remember taking her for a walk to talk about it.

[freedom4ever]

Thank you.

[ArrogantBustard]

I was at work, doing battle with the VAX. The secretary, who always had a radio going, called out to all of us that "the Space Shuttle just blew up!" We couldn't believe it; had to listen to the radio jabberers jabber for quite some time for it to really sink in.

[VMI70]

Fascinating article; thanks for posting.
The teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was the wife of one of my college classmates. Very sad for all concerned.

[Pyro7480]

I remember this fateful day too. I was only five and a half years old, and I was home sick that day. I was a "space nut" back then (I still am actually), and my mom knew to turn on the shuttle launch that day, because of the Teacher in Space program. I remember seeing the shuttle explode, and being in shock. I think I remember Reagan's speech later that day too. At that time, he always seemed to me like America's Grandfather to me, as much as he was the President, and that day he was both. I wrote a letter to NASA that was all decorated with ink stampings of futuristic space ships expressing my condolences. I think one of the Challenger Centers somewhere in the country has my letter in their building, along with all the letters of sympathy that were sent.

Years later, I went to Arlington National Cemetary for the first time, and I saw the memorial that they have to the seven astronauts. It was very solemn. It sits next to a memorial to those who died on the failed rescue mission in Iran to get the hostages at the American embassy in 1979.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. May they always rest in peace. Amen

[Lee_Atwater]

From President Reagan, 28 January 1986

We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public.

He never missed an opportunity to take a shot at the Soviets.

[NonZeroSum]

High Flight

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds...and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of...wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew.
And while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space...
...put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

[Buckeye Bomber]

It's a poem that I can't remember. It was on the Air Force ROTC certificate I got when I was trying for ROTC. I got the scholarship, but the damned Defense Department wouldn't take me because I'd had childhood asthma. Then they changed the rules just this year.

Is it just me, or did that speech inspire anyone else to want to be3 an astronaut?

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

Bump for the Seven.

Was a junior in HS, guy came to our table at lunchtime and said, "the space shuttle just blew up." It briefly occured that shuttle launches had become so common as to be unnoticeable. Went to the library, which was by then packed with stunned kids and teachers watching replays on TV.

[Desdemona]

Well, I was at school that day, in the hall at my locker, when one of my classmates told me.

It was later, when a family friend was piloting Discovery (launch in October 1990) and we were down there, we found out what NASA had burried. It didn't have to happen. Somebody overrode the rules, and as a result seven people died.

[general_re]

Well, I knew that, actually - I'm still thinking "2002", though ;)

[HELLRAISER II]

It really was a terrible thing and it set NASA back considerably, all we can do is to remember the astronauts and their sacrifice.

[mykdsmom]

Happy Birthday to you 2!

[GoreIsLove]

alan alda's birthday, too.

[mykdsmom]

alan alda's birthday, too.

YIKES!!!! I refuse to wish him a Happy Birthday.

MKM