24 years ago?! No way...

At work, on the drafting table, before CAD took over engineering design.
 
10th floor, Exxon building, Houston, in the computer operations center. Saw all the people huddled under the speakers in th eceiling, listening to the radio as they gave updates.

I left within minutes of the event, headed back to the office, and every flag I passed was at half-mast, every headlamp was on.

Houston loves its Astronauts. I get choked-up now when I think of it.
 
I was 5. I remember it well, even the shape of the smoke.

I didn't fully appreciate what had happened.
 
High school physics class. We could see the launches from our town in central FL, and we all ran outside to see the strange Y-shaped cloud that was left behind... :frown3:
 
In DC for a PoliSci seminar.

The next day we attended a memorial at the Air & Space Museum. Watched the Space Shuttle IMAX afterward -- several Challenger crew members in that film made it very moving.
 
Just about to go to bed after a very long night shift. Didn't get any sleep that day either. :frown3:
 
Overheard some people talking about it before a calculus class in college.
-harry
 
I was in an Aviation-track Magnet High School in Houston in Algebra 1. The Aviation teacher came in, told us, and we all ran two rooms down to hear mission control say "there appears to have been some sort of malfunction"...
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Where were you?
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Watching one of my co-workers launch into space but not making it, via closed circuit TV in a briefing room at our lab in Albuquerque :frown3:

Judy Resnick had been working with me and several other engineers on some preliminary experiment packages that we were planning on launching in the payload bay on some later missions.

All day yesterday I was thinking about the Apollo 1 fire 43 years ago. 27 Jan 1967 Grissom, Chaffee, and White died.

Today I kept thinking about Judy and her fellow astronauts.

On Monday I will be thinking about the Columbia crew.
 
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I worked on several components to the shuttle when I was at Sunstrand Aviation (most notably was the tail speed brake, and APU), and Brunswick Aerospace (all of the pressure vessels). It was a real kick in the crotch.

Sorry to hear you lost a friend Scott.

President Reagan's speech on the disaster was one of his best.
 
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I watched the launch at the kitchen table of my parent's home. I had gotten out of the Navy not long before and wondered what the little flame was on the side of the boosters as I had never seen it before.
 
Our entire computer department were in our conference room (with the door shut so that management would believe we were working) watching the lift-off. Unbelievable silence the rest of the day. I can't look at that plume of smoke.
 
I was in my 1st Aid class at Basic Training Fort Leonard Wood, MO. I just got a brief glimps at the TV the drill sgt's where watching in the back room. They of course told us about it, but I didn't get see any video of it until about 11 weeks later.

Brian
 
Whoa, 24 yrs ago. I was in college and coming through the student union and saw it on TV.

Sorry about your friend Scott. :(
 
Standing in the parking lot where I worked @ 1011 W Central Blvd in Orlando. I watched every launch.. As soon as the SRB's crossed I knew it was terminal.. Can't believe it was 24 years. Where does the time go ?????

Ben.
 
I was walking out the door in the dorm when I saw a bunch of people crowded around the front desk tv. I was late for class. When I walked in someone said something snide about showing up late. Turns out they all missed the news enroute to class because a 2x4 in the stomach would have had the same effect on everyone in the room. Not amusing in the least.

This is not the best time of the year for manned space flight.
 
I was sneaking out of work for an hour or two to get my car tags renewed. Turned on the radio and listened for a few minutes, trying to figure out what they were talking about. Then I started to get an idea, and thought, "Nah, no way, they must be talking about something else." Finally, they recapped what had happened and I knew then.
 
smigaldi said:
All day yesterday I was thinking about the Apollo 1 fire 43 years ago. 27 Jan 1967 Grissom, Chaffee, and White died.

Today I kept thinking about Judy and her fellow astronauts.

On Monday I will be thinking about the Columbia crew.
Click to expand...

Wow. Bad week for space travel! :(

I was in Mrs. Backus' 5th-grade art class when the principal, Mr. Kinney, came in and told us. Spent the rest of the day in the library watching it on TV. It happened less than a year after my family went to Florida for spring break and spent a lot of time at KSC. I'm sure that it played a part in my sister's interest in space, and she's now a NASA engineer.

Geico266 said:
President Reagan's speech on the disaster was one of his best.
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+1... And here it is: (I had forgotten that he pulled the last couple lines from "High Flight"!)

 
I was in my third grade class, watching it (I think, it has been a while).
 
I was at work .. heard it on the radio. The feeling was remarkably similar to
the one I had back in Jr High sitting in Biology class when they announced
JFK had been shot.

When Columbia disintegrated I was in the air, flying a friend from our
EAA chapter over to another airport to check on his wings being covered.
We landed and everyone in the FBO was huddled around the TV. Another
sick feeling.

RT
 
RogerT said:
I was at work .. heard it on the radio. The feeling was remarkably similar to
the one I had back in Jr High sitting in Biology class when they announced
JFK had been shot.

When Columbia disintegrated I was in the air, flying a friend from our
EAA chapter over to another airport to check on his wings being covered.
We landed and everyone in the FBO was huddled around the TV. Another
sick feeling.

RT
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You got that right. This is one of those events that is seared into the minds of Americans. I was 8 years old when Kennedy was shot, and I can tell you who told me, exactly where I was standing, and all if it. We lost alot in both instances.
 
I was at home, a lunchbreak from work.
 
N801BH said:
Can't believe it was 24 years. Where does the time go ?????
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That's weird because to me it seems like a long, long time ago. Lots of water under the bridge since then.
 
I was at Lockheed Georgia, working for Digital Equipment Corp as a computer mechanic. I came in to our office in the basement of the B-1 building and tried to call our dispatch center on a landline (pre-cellphone days). All 9000 phone lines at Lockheed were busy. What was happening was people at the Cape were calling Georgia looking for jobs to transfer into. This was about 2 hours after the disaster. At the time of the actual explosion I was in a computer room away from any media.
When the second shuttle disaster happened, I was in Estonia. We were saddened, for sure, but our Estonian clients/co-workers were literally in tears. Their grief was amazing. We always assumed that if enough shuttle missions were sent up, eventually there would be another accident, but that the risks were worth the rewards. The Estonians were truly devastated by the tragedy of it. It soberd us to see their reaction. We had begun to take the potential human costs of the shuttle program for granted.:nono:
 
You bring up a very good point. Considering all the things that could, would ,should go wrong to have the mission end up in a complete failure NASA has a pretty darn good track record for space exploration. AS in most things in life it is the little no brainer details that created disaster.

We all drive in weather that sometimes goes down to -40 f and the 80$ tires on our cars/trucks are still plyable and don't fail.. NASA specs out some O rings that are so brittle at 33 f they fail .. Go figure.

The chances of hitting a bird, FOD or anything that might harm the surface of the shuttle is/was pretty high and yet no one at NASA even suggested the spacecraft carry a temporary patch/repair kit to jig rig it to get home. Chilling at best, Poor management at worst. IMHO



Ya live and learn.

Godspeed to all the brave men and woman who paid the ultimate sacrifice to futher mankind.

Ben Haas.
www.haaspowerair.com.
 
N801BH said:
The chances of hitting a bird, FOD or anything that might harm the surface of the shuttle is/was pretty high and yet no one at NASA even suggested the spacecraft carry a temporary patch/repair kit to jig rig it to get home. Chilling at best, Poor management at worst. IMHO



Ya live and learn.

Godspeed to all the brave men and woman who paid the ultimate sacrifice to futher mankind.

Ben Haas.
www.haaspowerair.com.
Click to expand...

Nor did they even inspect for reentry. :mad2: Pretty sad.
 
I was just sitting down for lunch in an IBM manufacturing plant in Charlotte NC where I had been working on software controlling an automated printer assembly line.
 
I was where I was when everything happened, good or bad. In the laboratory. Didn't know what had happened until the radio started playing David Bowie's they could be heroes. I've hated the song ever since just because every time I hear it I'm reminded.
 
My father-in-law died that same day. It was a very, very bad day in our household.
 
I was operating a crankshaft grinder, a mindless task after several thousand crankshafts, at had the radio on when the news of the explosion came on.

24 years went by in a hurry. In another 24 years I will be past the average life expectancy for a Canadian male.

Dan
 
I was 11. Visting my grandfather in the hospital and watching the news coverage on TV in his room.
 
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