Remembering Challenger 28 years ago

I was in the middle of a trial and heard about it during a break. I was shocked and deeply saddened. When the judge came back on the bench, I informed everyone what had happened. The judge said, "Let's go forward." I said, "I don't think so" and began packing my briefcase.
 
midlifeflyer said:
I was in the middle of a trial and heard about it during a break. I was shocked and deeply saddened. When the judge came back on the bench, I informed everyone what had happened. The judge said, "Let's go forward." I said, "I don't think so" and began packing my briefcase.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just dissociated, but unless they were people you knew personally, I don't see why there was a need to suspend trial. When Columbia happened everything continued. When 9-11 happened, we still did business as usual. (Well, not as usual, because our customers slowed down, but we didn't close up shop and go home.) When Waco happened my day went on as planned. When OKC happened we continued working. Why would seven strangers dying necessitate a work stoppage? People we don't know die every day.
 
I'm honestly not trying to be flippant about the question. I really want to know why others feel the need to pause when something like that happens to complete strangers.
 
I was at work. My (now-ex) shrew called and told me that the Shuttle had just blown up. I thought she meant on the pad, and asked if any of the astros were hurt (figuring that they had ridden the wire down, but maybe they hadn't made it out of the danger zone).

No TVs where I was. I had to go into the field later that day, and stopped by Henry Radio, where every TV on display was tuned to the news, and all of the other entertainment stuff was turned off. A sign in the ham radio area advised people that if they needed help, the staff was in the entertainment area.

I was buying Diesel fuel at the truck stop in Oshkosh, when I heard some trucker's CB telling people to pray for the souls of the astronauts. When I went in to pay, everyone was in front of the TV in the driver's lounge watching the pieces of Columbia fly across the sky.
 
Last edited:
SoloEqs said:
I was at work. My (now-ex) shrew called and told me that the Shuttle had just blown up. I thought she meant on the pad, and asked if any of the astros were hurt (figuring that they had ridden the wire down, but maybe they hadn't made it out of the danger zone).

No TVs where I was. I had to go into the field later that day, and stopped by Henry Radio, where every TV on display was tuned to the news, and all of the other entertainment stuff was turned off. A sign in the ham radio area advised people that if they needed help, the staff was in the entertainment area.

I was buying Diesel fuel at the truck stop in Oshkosh, when I heard some trucker's CB telling people to pray for the souls of the astronauts. When I went in to pay, everyone was in front of the TV in the driver's lounge watching the pieces of Columbia fly across the sky.
Click to expand...



Columbia was the second one, I watched that live in the sky, even got my nephew out of bed to watch then come fly pipeline with me. We spotted it coming in then come apart. He turned to me and asked, "How will they get anyone else to go up?" I told him, "I'd go tomorrow."
 
I remember where I was the day the NASA managers covered up that they ignored the Engineers they had entrusted lives to, in order to keep the Press happy and not delay the launch. Took a decade and some heavy hitters who weren't part of the clique to get them to admit it.
 
The word got out rapidly, thanks in part to G. Harry Stine and his articles describing the faulty design of the SRBs as compared to other solid rocket stacks. It was only a matter of time before this type of failure would occur.

The major fault was that the SRBs were designed in a way that the seals weakened when the pressure went up inside the engine, rather than becoming tighter. Add the cold (which hardened the O-rings) and the spacecraft was doomed the instant that the SRB lit.
 
Geico266 said:
One of the things in my bucket list that will never be done, watching a night launch of the SS.
Click to expand...

Drove up from south Florida with some friends to see the first ever SS night launch. It was spectacular!! It was dark, but when it took off it converted night time to day time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
denverpilot said:
I remember where I was the day the NASA managers covered up that they ignored the Engineers they had entrusted lives to, in order to keep the Press happy and not delay the launch. Took a decade and some heavy hitters who weren't part of the clique to get them to admit it.
Click to expand...

Not NASA - Morton Thiokol.

And it didn't take anywhere close to a decade for that to come out. I studied it for engineering ethics in the fall of 1993.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Not NASA - Morton Thiokol.



And it didn't take anywhere close to a decade for that to come out. I studied it for engineering ethics in the fall of 1993.
Click to expand...


Haven't read the later follow-ups that say the Thiokol managers were pressured quietly by the NASA folks, huh? The Thiokol folks were scapegoats. NASA didn't want the delay. Thiokol didn't hide the information from NASA either. Who was "PIC"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top