OT: Anniversary of the Challenger disaster.

[michael saulnier]

For me and millions, the Challenger disaster was one of those "where were you when it happened" events. We had all started to take it for granted that the space program and the shuttle were reliable, safe methods of travel. Heck, we were sending an elementary school teacher on the flight... basically a publicity stunt. It was an end to a certain innocence and the sense that our technology had gotten to the point of true reliability. I for one was changed by this... never quite trusting the planes, trains and automobiles in my life quite the same way. Now I bring a backup for my amp... every time I play. guitplayer

[Dwarf]

I was walking home from work and heard the news on my walkman. I was stunned. A part of me died that day. -- Rob

[Anon-a-Monster]

[quote] Heck, we were sending an elementary school teacher on the flight... basically a publicity stunt. [/quote]What was her name? Christa McCaullif? What color were her eyes?

[BNC]

The thing is that it would have been easy to avoid. There was a rubber 0-ring sealing in a joint on the boosters. It had only been tested to a certain temperature (can't remember right now). The temp that day was below that at which they tested, but there was pressure since the President was coming to see it. So, they decided to launch anyways. The rubber was britle, did not seal the joint, hot gas reached the fuel tanks, boom. It was a stupid mistake made in order to put on a good facade, many engineers spoke out against it prior ro launch.

[Jode]

That is one of those "where were you" moments like 9/11. I was in the eighth grade, and my English class was walking through the library on our way to watch a video in a back room. A couple of the science classes were watching the launch on TV in the main reading room. I couldn't see the TV, but as we walked by, I noticed it was oddly quiet, and everyone was transfixed by the screen. We went on into the back room. Our teacher followed us in about a minute later, white as a sheet, and gave us the news. It was inconceivable that a United States spacecraft had just exploded in the sky like that. By the way, Anon, Christa McAuliffe's eyes were blue. One blew this-a-way, and one blew that-a-way. :eek:

[Tedster]

I was at a Geology class at St. Clair Co. Community College when I heard people talking about it. Went and found a TV...and they were replaying that explosion. I remember thinking "Sabotage" right off the bat. Took a long time before I actually believed that it might be something other than that.

[fantasticsound]

I walked into the University of Iowa student union a few minutes after the disaster. The large, main room of this building was largely made up of comfy chairs for lounging, with a large projection TV at one end. There it was, one of the first of [i]many[/i] replays of the launch footage, in huge white streaks across a blue sky. At first I was unaware there had been an accident. Didn't take long before I saw one of the most spectacular and sickening sights ever. It's amazing how people came together in the wake of the disaster. All human life is sacred, but consider the numbers; a few astronauts, involved in an endeavor that is inherently risky against the thousands of unwittingly involved victims of the WTC attacks. I'm happy they didn't pull the plug on space travel that day. It could have happened.

[not Cereal]

i was at home sick from school that day. i remember being mad that all the tv channels were playing that same footage over and over. i wanted to watch tv shows. this all sounds terrible now, about my reaction. i was in 7th grade, and i was not-allright. 7th graders arent always ok. sometimes it gets real bad. in the end this was a very disturbing event for me, and i remember that day very clearly. i have been disturbed by the challenger disaster ever since it happened.

[Botch.]

I worked for Thiokol on the Space Shuttle boosters as a reliability/safety engineer from 1997 to 1999. It was unsettling how that incident still deeply scarred everyone who worked there. BNC is correct about the temperature and the O-rings; what a lot of people [i]don't[/i] know is that that was just one of many problems the entire system had; the shuttle itself was essentially rebuilt during the redesign of the boosters, the liquid-fuel rocket engines in the shuttle itself were constantly throwing turbine blades on the test stand, it would have been only a matter of time before it would've happened in the air. The disaster was indirectly the reason why I left Thiokol. There was simply not enough work for 25 people to do on the boosters, but any attempt to reduce the "safety" workforce was nixed by NASA. I did about four months' worth of work in that two years, and had to find something more substantial.

[PBBPaul]

I was working at a car dealership that day. I remember it clearly. I had taken a smoke break and was in the lounge where the TV was on. Shuttle launches were still pretty cool and since this was the first time a civilian was going up, it was being broadcast live. I remember too cleary. :cry:

[Felix_dup1]

I was in Air Force ROTC at the University of Texas. We had just finished morning drills, and got the news as we headed back to class. One of the cadets in my class knew Christy McAuliff (sp?) personally, and she was in tears. The mood in the room was ultra-somber, as many of my classmates were slated to become pilots and the space program was viewed somewhat as the pinnacle of all US air/space programs. I'm glad the US space program didn't end that day. It's unfortunate that it took an accident like this to reveal many of NASA's problems. Hopefully things have changed now - too bad the program was damaged so badly and hasn't truly regained its momentum yet.

[Sylver]

I was in music school at the time. Taking a break between songwriting and harmony classes in the stairwell, havin's a smoke with some buds. A fellow student pokes his head in and said: "I don't want to screw up anyone's day, but the space shuttle just blew up." There was dead silence in the stairwell as his words just hung in the air, echoing up and down the stairs. I think the only replies were "Wow" "Shit" and "Oh my god"(After serveral seconds of stunned silence.)

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

I was a senior in high school, and we were watching the launch on TV in my first period advanced placement English class. Instead of analyzing Dostoyevsky, we took a break and watched the launch, I believe, specifically because an educator was onboard. I'd never heard of Morton-Thiokol before that day...wish I'd kept my ignorance. Definitely a seminal event. I remember it like it was yesterday (17 years ago? Jesus H. Christ, where has the time gone?). The shock was horrifying and palpable. - Jeff

[Kris]

My dad was pulling into a Truck topper dealer to buy a topper for his truck. He and a buddy saw the shuttle go up live... In Tampa you can see the launch clearly on a good day... He ran inside and told the dealer that he thought the shuttle blew up... he said the guy wanted to kick his ass on the spot... the guy didn't think the joke was funny at all, but the radio report they turned on proved it... I was in 6th grade science class and saw it on tv... dead silence is what I remember... Reminds me about my 6th grade science teacher. He was sorta f**k'd up because his favorite toy as a kid was Mercury... the liquid metal... back then they didn't realize it was really bad for ya!

[Jode]

[quote]Originally posted by Tedster: [b] I remember thinking "Sabotage" right off the bat. Took a long time before I actually believed that it might be something other than that.[/b][/quote]Yeah... like union labor and government standards... :rolleyes:

[Gtoledo3]

I was in grade school and actually asked to go to the bathroom when the shuttle was launching. Here in Tampa, you can see it in the air. Needless, to say, it blew up. By the time I got back to the classroom, the principal was on the intercom announcing the accident. It's really weird that this is the anniversary of that b/c I thought about it yesterday for the first time in years.

[Deathtoallwhoopposeme]

I was in 9th Grade honors Science Class in Palm Beach County, FL. My teacher was in the NASA program that Christa McCaullif was in but obviously didn't get picked. She was one of the finalists that went through testing though and knew Christa as a result. We watched the launch Live on TV in class and when the shuttle blew up, my teacher Burst into tears and ran out of the room. It was a very emotional moment and the class was stunned as we had been kept abreast of the whole mission and were really psyched up to see it. We did't see our teacher again until the next day. An assistant principal came in and looked after us for the rest of the period. That is a day i will never forget.

[michael saulnier]

I remember the turmoil at NASA in the wake of the disaster. Imagine if this happened today. We'd be looking to blame terrorism or something. How innocent we were then. The thought of terrorism was scarcely mentioned. Now it's the first thought. guitplayer

[loudist]

I was teaching at Full Sail in Orlando, and we went outside to watch the launch. I remember it was pretty cold (in Florida terms). We saw the boosters clear the trees, from our perspective, and continue up for a bit then... the forked contrails. One of the students asked if that was the second stage... I said I thought it was trouble, haveing seen a few launches in the past. We went in and watched it on tv.... over and over and over... it was in that moment I began hateing the media in earnest.

[fantasticsound]

Hey Loudist, My wife worked in Melbourne, about 20 miles south of Cape Canaveral last February. We all drove down and spent a day at Disney for my daughter's birthday. I can only imagine what that must've been like to see from your vantage point. You couldn't be but 50 miles or so, straight line, from the launch site, huh? Tragic. Sventvkg, I had no idea you could see launches at the Cape from so far south (not to mention west and south from Tampa!) My parents live in west Boca Raton. We were thinking of driving up to the Cape for a launch, but nixed it due to the 4 hour drive. To think I could've seen it from their street. :rolleyes: Doh!

[Deathtoallwhoopposeme]

[quote]Originally posted by fantasticsound: [b]Hey Loudist, My wife worked in Melbourne, about 20 miles south of Cape Canaveral last February. We all drove down and spent a day at Disney for my daughter's birthday. I can only imagine what that must've been like to see from your vantage point. You couldn't be but 50 miles or so, straight line, from the launch site, huh? Tragic. Sventvkg, I had no idea you could see launches at the Cape from so far south (not to mention west and south from Tampa!) My parents live in west Boca Raton. We were thinking of driving up to the Cape for a launch, but nixed it due to the 4 hour drive. To think I could've seen it from their street. :rolleyes: Doh![/b][/quote]Sometimes you can see them pretty good from around here other times it's just a streak in the sky....during the Challenger Disaster we were watching it on TV in the Classroom..... :(

[The T Dot]

I was only 6 years old, watching at on TV at home with my mother. I remember seeing a look of shock on her face, and even though I was so young it still stuck. She tried to explain what happened, but at that age I really didn't "get it" until later.

[midispaceho]

I was in 9 th grade science. I remember they wheeled in the TV so we could watch. It was pretty profound for me since I was a major space geek. Many many years later I was exhibiting a some sculpture work I did and one of the pieces was titled "need another 7 astronauts" didn't go over well despite the long period of time gone by.

[Dave Pierce]

I must have been 20, and I was working in a print shop. I was looking over the shoulder of our master pre-press guy, who was working at a lighttable showing me some tricks on stripping negatives. We were listening to the launch on the radio. At first we thought it was some sort of joke, but then we quickly realized the tragedy. I must have smoked a half pack of cigarettes in the next hour. Wow, that's a strange thing I haven't thought about in years and years -- you could actually [b]smoke in your workplace[/b] then. Seems bizarre now. --Dave

[midispaceho]

[quote]Originally posted by Dave Pierce: [b] Wow, that's a strange thing I haven't thought about in years and years -- you could actually [b]smoke in your workplace[/b] then. Seems bizarre now. --Dave[/b][/quote]I remember when I saw the movie Black Hole...the theater was filled with people smoking. Try that today.

[Sp3nc3r]

My entire elementary school was home because of a teacher's workshop that day. I don't think there was a single kid that I grew up with that didn't watch in horror as the Challenger blew up.... I can't believe it was that long ago when I can remember every vivid detail from that day. Spencer

[Nawor]

"Hey Harry, you know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has two hundred thousand moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good doesn't it?"... Steve Buscemi. ...from the movie Armageddon :rolleyes: