Where were you 17 years ago today? (Challenger Explosion)

History ^ | 01/27/03 | Memories

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Where were you and what were you doing when this happened?

[AFPhys]

I was at home watching the launch with my two young girls. At about T+55 seconds, I looked at the long-range picture of the boosters and said "something's wrong there - it isn't supposed to lool like that"... When it exploded about 15 seconds later from the burn through, I wasn't really surprised, but was stunned.

I was granted permission to read "High Flight" at church wearing my flight suit that weekend in their honor.

[ChadGore]

Slip the surley bonds . . .

[brazos.357]

I was in 8th grade Pre-Algebra class taking a test. Then all of a sudden the loudspeaker just started blaring this news story with no warning. We stopped the test and just listened. My teacher was very mad for this to disrupt her class!

[agrarianlady]

In 9th grade. For some reason it just didn't sink in at first. I think we were confused for a while. I remember clearly that we had a long-term substitute teacher that day whom everyone loved. He had a game leg from military service in Vietnam. He understood more than we and was influential that day in imparting the meaning of the tragedy to us.

I learned from that that children and teenagers are still developing a conscience.

[geege]

I was at work and my co-worker screamed out that the Challenger exploded......I didn't believe her......

[Mad Dawgg]

I was at work watching the launch... it shook me up so bad I became physically ill.

I will never forget the picture of the School Teacher's Dad watching the explosion.

[NCC-1701]

I was at work. The local radio CBS affiliate carried the launch for the first 40 seconds the came back to local programming. A friend came through and said casualy that the shuttle had just exploded. I said yeah. I swited back to the staion and it took a few minutes for them to go national with the first reports. Stayed with it the next couple of days. This comming 19 years and 1 day after the fire in Apollo 1 that took the lives of Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. A sad day all around.

[BabsC]

I was at work and watched all the launches on a tv in the training room. I walked in right as it exploded. I took the rest of the day off. To this day I get teary eyed thinking of Terri's father and mother's faces as they watched their daughter die.

Finding out later that the launch should not have taken place and the engineers were overridden by management hurt and angered me even more.

[Outlaw76]

I was at home on leave from the Air Force just prior to traveling to the UK for my first duty assignment.

I was helping my father put together a fence around his small chicken pen when my sister walked out to us from the house with tears streaming down her face.

I remember being very sad for the people who flew to heaven that morning, and feeling a great sense of loss for promise that flight held.

The school teacher bringing a new perspective and the scientist working on new forms of fuel stick out the most in my memory.

May God bless them and keep them.

[rattrap]

I was in sixth grade homeroom, the PA came on and announced that the challenger space shuttle had exploded. it's one of two national tragedies in my lifetime that i'll never forget the exact moment in time.

[LisaFab]

All I know from the conversation is that the crew DID survive the explosion.

What an awful thing to hear. God Bless them all.

[HighWheeler]

God bless the Columbia crew and their families.

[tallhappy]

Yes sad bump.

[clamper1797]

I was at work ... working on the design of the new SPACE SHUTTLE computer

[cgbg]

Please report for pre-cog duty immediately.

Your nation needs you. ;-)

[ladyinred]

I was watching the launch on CNN at the time, so I saw the explosion when it happened. Horrifying image that I will never forget.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

I was just outside the library at Texas A&M. I was looking for the school paper, as I had my first guest column in that issue.

Which, unfortunately, went unnoticed due to other events.

I ended up being a regular columnist that summer. But the Challenger explosion was tragic. I do recall, however, that many of us dealt with the tragedy with humor. Something that MANY on FreeRepublic frown on. But it was a way to cope with sorrow.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

I was walking across the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa.

Learned of the tragedy when I crossed paths with my Taiwanese neighbor on the commons. His english is a bit broken so I hoped it was a matter of miscommunication. Rushed back to the apartment, turned on the TV and watched in shock just like everyone else.